m 



UHtt 




HISTORY 



ENGLAND 



dFor ti)c &$t of icrjools. 



M. E. THALHEIMER, 

Author of a Manual of Ancient History; a Manual of Medieval and 
Modern History, etc. 



NEW YORK •:• CINCINNATI •:• CHICAGO 

AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY 



JiA' 



THALHEIMER'S HISTORICAL SERIES. 



Eclectic History of the United States. 
History of England. 
General History. 
Ancient History. 
Eastern Empires (separate). 
History of Greece {separate). 
History of Rome {separate). 
Mediaeval and Modem History. 



Copyright 

1875 
by Wilson, Hinkle & Co 

Copyright, 1903, Bt KG E. Thalhkimkr. 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Receive*! 

AUG "4 1903 

Copyright Entry 

CLASS &" XXc. No 

COPY B. 



PREFACE 



The increasing study of History in our schools is, doubt- 
less, a hopeful sign for the future of the Republic. A free 
government depends for its honor, if not for its very life, 
upon the good sense and moral steadfastness of the people ; 
and these may be greatly reinforced by the experience of 
mankind. And, surely, the history of which we can least 
afford to be ignorant is that of our mother-country. 

That branch of the great German race which was planted 
fourteen centuries ago on British soil, grew, under exception- 
ally favoring influences, to be the admiration of the world. 
The history of the long series of popular conquests, nobly 
won and firmly held, — from Magna Charta to that Bill of 
Rights which was the prelude to our own Declaration of 
Independence, — contains a fund of political wisdom which 
no nation, and ours the least of all, can safely neglect. 

Though there is a certain literal and obvious patriotism in 
placing the History of the United States first, or even alone 
in the school course where but one book can be studied, 
yet we do well to remember that English History is, in a 
very special sense, our own ; and it is difficult to imagine 
how the spirit of American institutions can be understood, 
without some knowledge of the circumstances in Great 
Britain which led to the formation and afterward to the 
independence of our earliest states. 

In this point of view, it seems a peculiar irony of Fate 
that, until very recently, the only school histories of England 
were of strongly Tory character, holding up to dishonor the 

(iii) 



PREFACE. 



great statesmen who laid the foundations of English and 
American freedom. It was a mere accident of their date; 
for they were compiled while Hume and his school held 
undisputed possession of the field, — before Macaulay or 
Froude, Freeman or Green had written in a more liberal 
and truly scholarly spirit. 

Though a large and honorable mass of our citizens are of 
other than English descent, yet it is English freedom — the 
slow and sturdy growth of many centuries — that they or 
their fathers have sought to enjoy under the shelter of the 
great Republic ; — this new slip, severed a hundred years 
ago from the parent tree, only that it might extend new 
roots and branches in a broader field and under still freer 
heavens. 

Unless our nation is to be the prodigal child of the ages, 
scorning and squandering its rich inheritance, our law-makers 
of the next forty years must con well the wisdom which their 
fathers gained by long centuries of strife. And if the same 
law-makers are to be held to their duty and made to justify 
the immense confidence reposed in them, their future con- 
stituencies must also be learning their task. 

Would that the study of these glorious centuries of English 
History might convince some young mind that the service 
of the fatherland is not the degrading affair of selfish interest 
and greed which some would make it, but the grandest of 
all opportunities to serve God, win a noble name, and bene- 
fit our race ! Would that there might be a Hampden or a 
Milton among the students of this little book ! 
Brooklyn, ^ 

Aug. i, 1875. J 

In the present edition a few changes have been made in 
the text, references for reading are placed at the end of the 
chapters, and the chief events of the last fourteen years have 
been added. 

Cincinnati, ) 
March 1, 1889 J 



CONTENTS. 



PART I. — OLD ENGLAND. 

IAPTER 

I. Britain before the English 

II. The English Conquest . 

III. The Danish Incursions 

IV. Fall of the Saxons 

V. Danish Kings and Saxon Restoration 
VI. Condition of the People 
Questions for Review . 



9 
16 

26 

35 
42 

52 

55 



PART II. — FEUDAL ENGLAND. 



I. The Reign of the Conqueror 

II. Later Norman Kings . 

III. The First of Plantagenets . 

IV. King Richard and King John 
V. Reign of Henry III. 

VI. " Edward I. 

VII. Edward II. anj> Edward III. 

VIII. Reign of Richard II. . 

IX. House of Lancaster 
X. " '" " (Concluded) 



57 

63 

70 

75 
83 
88 

94 
102 
108 
114 



(v) 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER 

XI. House of York 

Questions for Review 



PAGE 

I20 
125 



PART III.— THE TUDORS. 

I. Opening of the Modern Era 
II. Reign of Henry VIII. . 

III. " " (Concluded) 

IV. Edward VI. — Mary I. . 
V. Reign of Elizabeth 

Questions for Review . 



127 
132 
i39 
143 
151 
161 



PART IV.— THE CENTURY OF REVOLUTIONS. 



I. Accession of the House of Stuart 
II. Reign of Charles I. 

III. The Civil Wars .... 

IV. The Commonwealth (A. D. 1649 -1660 
V. The Restoration .... 

VI. Reign and Abdication of James II. 
VII. William and Mary 
VIII. Reign of Anne .... 
Questions for Review . 



162 
169 

175 

183 
191 

200 
207 

2T2 
2l6 



PART V. — HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. 

I. George I. and George II. 
II. Reign of George III. 

III. Wars of the French Revolution 

IV. The Regency (A. D. 1811-1820) . 
V. George IV. — William IV. . 



218 

227 

2 35 
242 
246 



CONTENTS. vil 



chapter Page 

VI. Reign of Victoria 250 

VII. British Empire in the East .... 256 

VIII. Victoria's Reign, Continued . . 264 

IX. The British Government . . . .272 

Questions for Review .... 275 

MAPS. 

NUMBER 

I. British Isles; showing Places of Greatest 

Historical Interest . . . Frontispiece 

II. Britain in 597 .... 

III. England in the Tenth Century 

IV. France in 1360 
V. Sketch Map of Hindustan 

VI. County Map of England and Wales 



21 

3 2 

99 

258 

169 



GENEALOGICAL TABLES. 

Saxon and Danish Kings 56 

Norman Line 69 

Descent from Henry II. 82 

" " Edward III. of the Three Royal 

Houses of Lancaster, York, and Tudor . .119 
Descendants of Henry VII. . . . . .150 

House of Stuart . 206 

" Hanover (Brunswick) . . „ .215 



PART I. -OLD ENGLAND. 



I. BRITAIN BEFORE THE ENGLISH. 




HE islands which are now 
the seat of the British Em- 
pire, and a busy market 
of the world's industry and 
wealth, were for ages un- 
known to all civilized na- 
tions. In their mild, moist 
air, dense and solitary for- 
ests of oak, ash, and beech 
were nourishing, while Egyptian and Assyrian empires rose 
and fell. 

2. Of their earliest inhabitants little can be known. Like 
other countries in Europe, Asia, and America, these islands 
bear beneath their surface many evidences of a busy human 
life, separated from our own by uncounted ages, but which 
teemed in the broad valleys and terraced the cliffs long before 
man had invented letters, or even the rudest pictures, by 
which to make record of his actions. Skeletons of many a 
gigantic beast, now extinct, deeply imbedded in the peat-bogs 



of Ireland or the mosses of Scotland, inclosing the arrow- 
head or javelin of flint which ended its existence, prove the 

(9) 



OLD ENGLAND, 



destructive agency of man, even before the creation of the 
dog and the horse, his present brute companions. 

3. Naturalists and antiquarians have labored to describe 
the character of these prehistoric men, from the slight indica- 
tions afforded by their possessions. Their beads of amber 
and jet, their rings, bracelets, and necklaces of gold, evince 
their love of ornament. Their stone mortars, or hand-mills, 
for grinding corn, indicate one article of their food, while 
bones of lambs and shells of oysters still remain as remnants 
of their banquets. Their cultivated terraces on heights now 
abandoned to the wild fox and the eagle, are evidences of a 
numerous as well as thrifty population. The heavy masonry 
of their tombs and chambered barrows prove their industry 
and power to transport great masses of stone ; and their cus- 
tom of burying with each person food, drink, and his favorite 
possessions, seems to imply their belief in a future life. 

4. In the earliest habitations, tools and weapons of stone 
only are found. The people of this age were in much the 
same condition as were the natives of North America at the 
time of its discovery by white men. Later, the tin and cop- 
per, native to these islands, have been combined into bronze, 
affording better tools for more skillful work. The prehistoric 
centuries are accordingly divided into the Age of Stone and 
the Age of Bronze. 

5. In burial-fields of a later period, iron tools are found; 
but these were doubtless introduced by the Celts, who at 
some remote and unknown time crossed from the European 
mainland. Of their warfare with the earlier inhabitants, we 
have no record. When Britain first became known to civil- 
ized Europe, it was an undisputed possession of the Celtic 
tribes. 

6. The Phoenicians, those Yankees of the ancient world, 
in groping through the stormy regions of the northern Atlan- 
tic, touched the western extremity of Great Britain, and the 



B. C. 55.] ROMAN INVASIONS. II 

cluster of islets off its coast, where they were so fortunate as 
to find rich deposits of tin. Greek merchant-vessels followed 
the Phoenicians; but the history of the country begins with 
the arrival of the Romans. 

7. Fifty-five years before the birth of Christ, Julius Caesar, 
availing himself of a breathing-space in his wars with the 
Gauls, crossed the Channel and landed with two legions upon 
the British coast. He found there a brave but barbarous 
people, scantily clothed in checkered mantles like those of 
the Scotch Highlanders, — their bodies painted blue and 
green, and hideously tattooed. They fought in scythe- 
armed chariots, somewhat like modern mowing-machines, 
which they managed with wonderful skill. Their seventeen 
tribes, or clans, were commonly at war with each other; 
but now and then some great danger from without led them 
to unite under one chief for the common defense. 

8. Their entire force, however, was no match for the well- 
trained valor of the Romans. After several defeats, they 
professed submission, and Caesar withdrew into Gaul. The 
Britons, believing that the danger was over, broke all their 
promises. The next summer, Caesar returned in greater 
force, marched northward and defeated all the tribes who 
had mustered to resist him, and burned the stronghold of 
Caswallon, their leader, at St. Albans, north of the Thames. 
He then departed, and the Britons were left nearly a hun- 
dred years to their own devices, while more splendid prizes 
absorbed the ambition of the Roman leaders. 

By his conquest of Pompey, Caesar became master of the 
civilized world. His nephew and heir, Augustus, was the 
first of the Roman emperors, and matured that wonderful 
system of dominion which ruled Europe and the nearer parts 
of Asia and Africa, in fact for five, and in name for more 
than fourteen centuries. 

9. The Britons, meanwhile, learned the arts of civilized 
life by their commerce with Gaul and their occasional in- 



•12 OLD E KG LAND. [A. D. 43. 

tercourse with Rome. At length, the Emperor Claudius re- 
membered their obscure and distant island, and 
sent Aulus Plautius with an army to subdue it. 
Among the officers was Vespasian, afterward emperor, who 
in one campaign fought thirty battles, captured twenty fort- 
resses, and made himself master of the Isle of Wight. All 
the south-eastern tribes submitted, and were organized into a 
Roman province. Claudius himself came, when all the fight- 
ing was over, to receive the submission of the chiefs ; and 
celebrated a great triumph at Rome for his victories in 
Britain. 

10. The interior tribes united themselves under Caradoc, — 
or, as the Romans called him, Caractacus, — and held out 
bravely for eight years. The invaders, step by step, gained 
all thac is covered by the modern English counties; but 
Caradoc and his followers maintained their fastnesses in the 
mountains of Wales. At last, the stronghold where Caradoc 
had placed his wife and children was taken, and the dis- 
heartened warrior sought shelter with his step-mother, the 
Queen of the Brigantes. She betrayed him, and the greatest 
of the Britons was carried in chains to Rome. The Silures 
still held out, and Ostorius, the Roman general, is said to 
have died of vexation at his ill success. 

1 1 . Hitherto, the resistance of the Britons had been largely 
sustained by the Druids, their priests, who possessed an ex- 
traordinary power over the minds and conduct of their vota- 
ries. They taught the young, made and administered the 
laws, and settled all disputes between tribes and nations, as 
well as between private persons. Their authority was enforced 
by dreadful penalties, including death by fire ; but they ruled 
the souls of men even more absolutely, by assuming a knowl- 
edge and control of each man's future existence. Their tem- 
ples were circles of enormous stones, open to the sky, such 
as may still be seen at Stonehenge and Abury. The priestly 
Druids dwelt in sacred groves of oak; inferior to them were 



A. D. 61.] DESTRUCTION OF THE DRUIDS. 13 

the two ranks of prophets and bards, the first of whom com- 
posed hymns in honor of the gods, while the second rehearsed 
the brave deeds of heroes. 

12. The Romans, as a rule, were tolerant of all religions, 
and even placed the gods of conquered peoples in their own 
Pantheon ; but where the tremendous power of the priests 
was used to obstruct their progress toward universal dominion, 
their wrath was unchecked by any thought of the sacred rights 
of conscience. Suetonius, becoming general of the Roman 
forces, A. D. 59, soon perceived that Britain could never be 
subdued while the Druids retained their power. Chief of 
their holy places was the island of Mona, or Anglesey, which 
is separated from the mainland of Wales by Menai Straits. 
At this stronghold Suetonius aimed the blow which was to 
shatter the ancient superstition, and here the Druids mustered 
all their forces, both material and spiritual. Not only was a 
host of armed warriors ranged upon the shore, but multitudes 
of priests and priestesses ran about tossing their long hair, 
brandishing blazing torches, and rending the air with their 
shrieks and curses. 

13. The legions pressed forward, undismayed by this novel 
mode of warfare. While their horsemen forded or swam the 
shallow strait, the infantry crossed it in boats, and 

' ; .' A. D. 61. 

after a fierce combat of unexampled obstinacy, 
the Britons were put to flight. The Druids were burned in 
the fires which they had kindled for their Roman prisoners, 
the sacred oaks were cut down, and the altars were over- 
turned. 

14. If Suetonius had hoped to crush the Britons by this 
bold stroke, he was disappointed. While he was engaged in 
the north-west, all southern Britain was up in arms, especially 
the eastern tribes, led by Boadicea, queen of the Iceni. This 
high-spirited matron had been bitterly injured and insulted 
by the Romans; and moved by a rage of resentment, she 
mustered a great army, which she herself led to attack the 



OLD ENGLAND. [A. D. 81. 



colonies. Chief of these was London, already a flourishing 
commercial town. The swift march of Suetonius failed to 
rescue it: 70,000 Romans and other foreigners were slaugh- 
tered without mercy, and the city became a heap of ashes. 
The Roman towns now named Colchester and St. Albans 
shared the same fate. But the Roman general exacted a 
pitiless revenge. In a great battle near London, 80,000 
Britons were slain, and the vanquished queen poisoned her- 
self, rather than fall again into the power of her foes. 

15. Several other generals tried their hands at subduing 
the Britons. The successful one was Agricola, who estab- 
lished the Roman power as far north as the Firths of Forth 

and Clyde, and protected his conquests by a chain 
of fortresses stretching across the island. Britain 
was divided into five provinces of the empire : thirty-three 
great cities were guarded by Roman walls, and conformed 
to the Roman language, laws, and customs. United under 
one firm government, the several tribes ceased from their 
quarrelings (§7), and grew rich by peaceful industry. Mines 
of iron, lead, and tin were worked, and agriculture was so 
prosperous that Britain became one of the great grain-export- 
ing countries of the world. A network of magnificent roads 
bound together the remotest corners of the island. There 
was little to disturb the general peace, except the incursions 
of barbarians from beyond the walls of Agricola. 

16. The Caledonians, coveting the rich harvests and well- 
fed herds of their southern neighbors, often descended upon 
the plains, burned farm-houses and even villages, and drove 
away cattle. To restrain their ravages, the Emperor Hadrian, 
who visited the island, A. D. 119, built a wall of earth from 
Solway Firth to the Tyne. In the reign of Antoninus Pius, 
a similar rampart was extended along the line of Agricola's 
fortresses ; and, finally, the Emperor Severus, after marching 
through the Highlands to the northern extremity of the island, 
caused a wall of solid masonry to be added to the fortifica- 



A. D. 211.] ROMANS IN BRITAIN. 15 

tions of Hadrian. The cold and barren wilds of Scotland 
seemed not worth conquering, to natives of the luxurious 
climates of southern Europe. No one then foresaw the 
splendors of genius and learning which were yet to illuminate 
the craggy heights of the "northern Athens." 

Severus died and was buried at York, the Roman capital 
of Britain. His son Caracalla made a truce with the Cale- 
donians, and hastened to be crowned at Rome. 



RECAPITULATION. 

Britain first peopled by unknown races ; colonized by Celts ; vis- 
ited by Phoenicians and Greeks ; conquered by Romans. Caesar and 
his heir establish the Roman Empire, of which Britain constitutes five 
provinces. Immense power of the Druids. Suetonius takes their Holy 
Island by storm, and exterminates the priests. Revolt of Boadicea ; 
burning of London and massacre of Roman residents ; her defeat and 
death. Ramparts of Agricola, Hadrian, Antoninus, and Severus de- 
fend Roman Britain from the Caledonians. Death and burial of 
Severus at York. 

Read : Pictorial History of England, Vol. i ; Coates' The Romans 
in Britain; Guest's Early English Settlements in South Britain; Pear- 
son's History of England, Vol. i. 



II. THE ENGLISH CONQUEST. 




A Druid Bard. 



NEW enemy soon began to vex 
the eastern coast of Britain, be- 
ing no other than the Saxon, 
or English, freebooters, whose 
descendants were to rule the 
greater part of the island. 
These brave and active people 
were a part of the great Ger- 
man race, which under its va- 
rious tribal names — Goths, 
Franks, Burgundians, etc. — 
was now becoming supreme in 
Europe. Their home was the 
north-western part of Germany, but their marine camps already 
dotted the coasts of Holland, Belgium, and northern France. 

To protect the shores of Britain from their ravages, the 
Emperor Diocletian appointed a special officer,, called the 
"Count of the Saxon Border." But Carausius, the first who 
bore this title, entered into alliance with the pirates them- 
selves, won over to his standard all the Roman 
troops stationed in Britain, assumed the imperial 
title of "Augustus," and made himself ruler of the island 
and its surrounding seas. Diocletian and Maximian were 
forced to acknowledge him as their colleague; but after six 
years of power, he was defeated by Constantius, the new 
Casar* and murdered by his subordinate officer. 



A. D. 287. 



*The Roman Empire was now so great, and its contests with bar- 
barians so incessant, that each emperor had to share his power with 
a general, who became his adopted son and took the title of Caesar. 
Upon his patron's death, the Caesar became emperor, with the higher 
title of Augustus. 
(16) 



A. D. 306.] PICTS AXD SCOTS. 17 



18. The last emperor who resided in Britain was Constan- 
tius Chlorus. He held his court at York, and there, upon 
his death, his son, Constantine the Great, was hailed as em- 
peror by the legions. In the long and eventful reign of this 
remarkable man, the greatest event is the establishment of 
Christianity as the religion of the Empire. Already its doc- 
trines had been diffused in Britain by soldiers and colonists ; 
churches had been planted in all the towns; but we can not 
now measure the extent of its influence over the conquered 
people. Although this simple faith was soon swept back by 
a tide of heathen invasion, Christianity still retained a firm 
hold in Ireland and among the Welsh in the west. (§§ 24, 
25, 3°-) 

19. Under the Roman rule, Britain became civilized but 
not strong. Roads and bridges were built, which even now 
defy the ruining touch of Time. Under the pavements of 
London, York, and Chester lie remains of cities more finely 
built and more richly ornamented than those which have risen 
upon their ruins. But while commerce and luxury increased, 
the strength of Britain was slowly sapped. Her young men 
were drafted into the armies of the Empire, and shed their 
life-blood upon the battle-fields of Italy or of Asia. The few 
who remained at home were corrupted by the pleasures, 
rather than ennobled by the arts, of civilized life. Under 
the perfect order and peace maintained by the presence of 
Roman armies and the prevalence of Roman law, the Britons 
were not learning either to defend or to govern themselves. 

20. Early in the fourth century, a change took place in 
the northern part of the island, which could then first be 
called. Scotland. The Scots, a fierce and savage tribe, crossed 
from Ireland, their earlier home, and settling themselves in 
what is now Argyleshire, soon established their supremacy 
over the Caledonians. The latter are henceforth to be known 
as Fids, a name which probably distinguished them from the 
unpainted Scots. The new-comers paid no respect to the 

Eng.— 2 . 



1 8 OLD ENGLAND. [A. D. 368. 

walls of Hadrian and Severus, but swarming over those 
feeble barriers, spread their ravages over all the fair harvest- 
fields of southern Britain. In A. D. 368, they advanced even 
to London, whence they were repulsed by the great general 
Theodosius. 

21. But the Empire itself was now falling under the attacks 
of northern barbarians, and in A. D. 418, the Emperor 
Honorius was compelled to withdraw the legions which had 
been stationed for the defense of the island. The Britons, 
ravaged at once by the German pirates on the east and by 
the Picts and Scots on the north, were still further weakened 
by dissensions among themselves. The national party, under 
Vortigern, desired a return to old Celtic customs, while Am- 
brosius and the Roman party upheld the law and order 
which had been derived from their late rulers. 

The latter party wrote a piteous letter to Aetius, the Ro- 
man general in Gaul : ' ' The barbarians drive us into the sea ; 
the sea throws us back upon the swords of the barbarians; 
and we have only the hard choice of perishing by the sword 

or by the waves." But Aetius could afford no 
A. D. 451. . ... 

aid; he was preparing for battle with Attila, king 

of the Huns, a monster so hideous, so fierce, and hitherto so 

irresistible, that he was called, by the affrighted people of 

that time, the "Scourge of God." 

22. The other party had recourse to the Germans. These 
already possessed lands on the coasts of York and Durham, 
but they were none the less glad of a settlement on the fruit- 
ful plains of Kent. Three ship-loads of men from Jutland, 
under the brother-chieftains, Hengist and Horsa, came to the 

help of Vortigern, the British prince, and were 

rewarded by a gift of the isle of Thanet, then 

separated by a broad channel from the mainland. Sixteen 

more vessels laden with Germans followed, and the Britons, 

grateful for a victory over the Scots, gave fertile lands to all. 

The new-comers soon began to conduct themselves rather 



A. D. 450.] KIXG ARTHUR. 



as conquerors than as guests. They turned their victorious 
arms against the Britons; new swarms of their countrymen 
arriving from beyond the sea, followed their example ; and 
in less than one hundred years, seven or eight German king- 
doms, sometimes called the Heptarchy, had been formed 
between the English Channel and the Firth of Forth. The 
Britons, henceforth to be called Welsh, or foreigners, retained 
only a strip of land along the western coast, including Corn- 
wall, Devon, Wales, and Cumbria, or Strathclyde. 

23. If history were permitted to borrow a page from ro- 
mance, we would gladly tell the story of King Arthur, the 
chief of the Britons, who, in this time of trouble, when 
weaker and baser kings 

"Groaned for the Roman legions here again," 

with his own right arm 

" Drave 
The heathen, and he slew the beast, and felled 
The forest, and let in the sun, and made 
Broad pathways for the hunter and the knight." 

We would tell, too, of the " glorious company" about the 
Round Table and in the lists at Camelot : 

"Knights that in twelve great battles splashed and dyed 
The strong White Horse in his own heathen blood." 

But the story of Arthur and his Knights must be read in 
Tennyson's beautiful Idylls. If it were possible to recover 
the true history of the British chief who bore the name, it 
would not greatly alter the main features of our sketch. 

24. While Britain was yielding to the German conquest, 
Ireland was still the peaceful abode of piety and learning. 
Scholars fled from the tumults of England and the Continent, 
to find a quiet retreat at Armagh or Durrow, and add to the 
fame of their universities, then celebrated throughout western 
Europe. Irish missionaries, in their turn, preached the Gos- 
pel in the British Isles, in Italy, Switzerland, and eastern 



20 OLD ENGLAND. [A. D. 565. 



Fiance. Columba, an Irish refugee, founded the monastery 
of Iona; and Aidan, one of its monks, established the still 
more celebrated bishopric and seminary at Lindisfarne, which 
sent missionaries into all the heathen realms. Cuthbert, the 
Apostle of the Lowlands, from his mission-station at Melrose, 
traveled over bogs and moors and rough mountain sides, 
teaching Christianity to the pagan peasants of Scotland and 
Northumbria. 

25. The Britons had been wholly or partly Christian; the 
English were heathen, and continued so for a hundred years 
after the conquest. Roman law, language, and religion dis- 
appeared, and the worship of Woden, with the customs of the 
Teutonic tribes, and a Low Dutch language, took their place. 
Three of the German kingdoms (§ 22), Anglia, Mercia. and 
Northumbria, were founded by Angles, or Engles, whose 
name was even then often applied to the whole country and 
people; three, called respectively East, West, and South 
Saxony (Essex, Wessex, and Sussex), were founded by Sax- 
ons; Kent, as we have seen, by the Jutes. Northumbria 
was often divided into two kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira ; 
part of Essex became Middlesex ; and East Anglia was sep- 
arated into the two regions of the Northfolk and the South- 
folk, now called Norfolk and Suffolk. 

26. Each of the German tribes had a royal family, reputed 
to be descended from Woden, their chief divinity, and from 
which the king was chosen by the votes of all the freemen. 
The custom of strict hereditary succession was wholly un- 
known. No son of a king could claim his father's crown 
until it had been duly conferred upon him by the votes of 
the nation ; and if he was young, or his valor yet unproven, 
his father's brother was usually preferred. The seven or 
eight kingdoms in England sometimes acknowledged a com- 
mon head, known as the Bretwalda, whose authority in this 
little realm bore some resemblance to that of the Emperor on 
the continent of Europe over the various nations owing alle- 



Map 3. 



B1UTAT^ T 




2 2 OLD ENGLAND. [A. D. 560. 

giance to Rome. Mercia and North umbria for a time strug- 
gled for the supremacy ; but Wessex gained it at last, and 
absorbed or subdued all the other kingdoms. (§§ 31, 33.) 

27. Ethelbert, fourth king of Kent, was the third of the 
Bretwaldas, and the first Christian king in England. He 
married the Frankish princess Bertha, daughter of Caribert; 
and his relations with her native land brought many civilizing 
influences into his kingdom. His people were the first of 
the English to enjoy a written code of laws; and his long 
reign of fifty years was productive of honor to himself and 
blessing to his kingdom. But the greatest of its events was 
the reception of Christianity. 

28. Several years before, a good priest visiting the slave 
market at Rome, saw three English youths exposed for sale. 
Their fair faces attracted his attention, and he asked whence 
they came. Being told that they were Angli, "Not Angles, 
but angels" was his quick reply, adding that it was a pity 
the Prince of Darkness should enjoy so fair a prey. Being 
informed, further, that they came from Deira, "That is 
good," he cried; "they are called from the anger (de ira) 
of God to his mercy." And having learned that their king 
was named yElla, "Alleluia!" he exclaimed; "we must en- 
deavor that the praises of God be sung in that country." 

Pleased with his puns, the good man was not the less ex- 
cited by true missionary zeal, and he obtained the Pope's 
permission to set off immediately as a teacher of the Gospel 
to that distant island. His Roman flock, however, refused 
to let him go, and on the death of the then reigning pontiff, 
he was elected to be pope,: — Gregory I. Not forgetting his 
desire for the conversion of the English, he sent Augustine, 
a Roman monk, with forty associates, to preach the true faith 
to those pagans. (A. D. 596.) 

29. Bertha, Queen of Kent, was already a Christian; 
through her influence, Ethelbert received the embassadors 
with honor, and gave them a cordial hearing. Soon after 



A. D. 752.] CHRISTIANITY IN ENGLAND. 23 

ward, he and all his courtiers were baptized. Augustine 
became the first archbishop of Canterbury, and 
was endowed by Pope Gregory with authority 
over all the churches yet to be founded in England. The 
new faith was soon accepted by the East Saxons; a bishop 
of London was consecrated, and churches were built, re- 
spectively, to St. Peter and St. Paul, on the sites still occu- 
pied by Westminster Abbey and the great cathedral. 

30. A daughter of Ethelbert and Bertha became the bride 
of King Edwin of Deira, and had the honor of introducing 
Christianity into that northern kingdom. Edwin was bap- 
tized at York, and over the spot thus consecrated arose a 
church which was the humble predecessor of the present 
grand and stately minster. Paulinus, who had accompanied 
the young Queen from Kent, became the first archbishop of 
York. Churches and monasteries were soon scattered over 
the land, and the fierce superstitions of northern paganism 
gave way to a purer and gentler faith. Edwin was the fifth 
Bretwalda; his power extended farther to the northward than 
that of any before him. He is even said to have founded the 
future capital of Scotland (§58). 

31. For a time, Mercia had the preeminence among the 
German kingdoms, and its king, Offa, even attracted the 
notice and friendship of Charlemagne (§ 32). He gained 
many victories over the Britons in Wales, and raised a great 
mound of earth, still known as Offa's Dike, to ward off their 
attacks upon the Saxon colonists whom he settled between 
the Severn and the Wye. 

The glory of Offa was clouded by crime. He procured 
the murder of the East Anglian Kins;, who was a 

. & ... A. D. 792. 

guest at his court, and violently seized his king- 
dom. Like many other princes of that time, he sought to 
relieve his conscience by Lavish gifts to the Church. One- 
tenth of all his goods were bestowed upon the clergy ; and 
following the example of Ina in Wessex, he imposed a tax 



24 OLD ENGLAND. [A. D. 792. 

of a penny on every homestead in his dominion, for the 
maintenance of an English college at Rome. Such grants 
are more easily made than recalled, and we shall find the 
Pope's claim for "Peter's pence" still enforced nearly a 
thousand years after the first imposition of the tax. 

32. We have no room for the annals of all the German 
kingdoms in England. In the wars which resulted from 
their perpetual feuds and jealousies, all but one of the royal 
families became extinct. The surviving race was that of 
Cerdic, the founder of Wessex, and it was now represented 
only by Brihtric, the reigning monarch, and Egbert, his 
young cousin, who was held by many to have a better right 
to the throne. Finding that he had incurred the enmity 
of Brihtric, Egbert withdrew to the continent, and spent his 
years of exile and probation in studying the arts of war and 
government, with the greatest master of both then living, — 
the Frankish king, who was soon to be known as Charle- 
magne, Emperor of the West. 

33. Brihtric's wife was Eadburga, daughter of Offa (§31), 
a woman celebrated, even in that dark age, for her crimes 
and misfortunes. She had resolved to poison a nobleman 
who was her husband's friend : the poison was accidentally 
taken by the King. Eadburga fled in a passion of shame 
and remorse, and Egbert was called to the throne by the 
acclamations of all the people. He now put in practice the 
lessons he had learned in the court and camp of Charle- 
magne, devoting himself to the energetic government of his 
own dominions, and the conquest of the Britons of Cornwall 
and Wales. 

Nearly twenty-five years had thus been spent, when an in- 
vasion of Wessex, by the King of Mercia, led to a series of 
wars which made Egbert over-lord of nearly all the island. 
Kent, Sussex, and East Anglia, unwilling tributaries of Mercia, 
gladly transferred their obedience to the wisest and best of 
Englishmen j Northumbria followed their example ; Mercia 



A. D. 827.] EGBERTS SUPREMACY. 25 

was conquered, and so the Heptarchy (§§ 22, 25) ended in a 
monarchy, within four centuries of the first German invasion. 
Egbert's immediate dominion still ended, how- 
ever, at the Thames, and he commonly styled 
himself, as before, "King of the West Saxons." His great- 
grandson, Edward the Elder, was the first to assume the title, 
4> King of the English." (§ 47.) 



RECAPITULATION. 

Western Europe is ravaged by German pirates. Under Constan- 
tine, the Roman Empire becomes Christian. Britain is weakened, 
though civilized, by the Roman occupation. "Scots" from Ireland 
conquer the northern and ravage the southern part of the island. The 
legions being withdrawn, a Roman party appeal to Aetius, a national 
party, to the Germans, for aid against the Scots. Saxons, Angles, 
and Jutes conquer the island and establish seven kingdoms, the 
Britons being crowded into a narrow western region. Arthur and 
his knights resist the heathen invaders, but ultimately without success. 

Ethelbert, King of Kent, welcomes Christian missionaries from 
Rome. Churches built at Canterbury, London, and York. Kings 
Offa and Ina impose the payment of "Peter's pence" on Mercia and 
Wessex. Egbert studies war and government with Charlemagne, be- 
comes King of Wessex, and over-lord of all England. 

READ : Green's Making of England, and History of the English 
People ; Tennyson's Idylls of the King; and Sir Thomas Malory's 
King Arthur. 



TIT. THE DANISH INCURSIONS. 




Alfred and the Cakes. 



O sooner were the seven Ger- 
man kingdoms thus happily 
united, than they were ex- 
posed to a new danger. The 
barren peninsulas which guard 
the entrance to the Baltic Sea 
were inhabited by a fierce and 
hardy race, still pagan, who 
were far too adventurous to 
remain content in so poor 
and narrow a home. The 
wild and stormy sea was to 
them more attractive than the 
land, while beyond it lay fer- 
tile countries and cities stored with wealth. Like the Saxon 
pirates of four centuries before, these "Danes," or North- 
men, with their narrow ships penetrated all the inlets and 
rivers of Holland, France, and Spain ; and, like the Saxons, 
they found the broad estuaries of Britain especially attractive. 
In all the maritime regions of western Europe, the churches 
resounded daily with one doleful addition to the Litany : 
"From the fury of the Northmen, good Lord, deliver us!" 

35. Wherever the standard of the Black Raven appeared, 
the people fled in dismay. The progress of the marauders 
was marked by the smoke of burning villages. Neither rich 
nor poor were spared ; but the churches were the chief objects 
of violence, because in their vaults were usually found gold, 
silver, and other treasures. At first the Danes contented 
themselves with sudden raids upon the coast, retiring to their 
ships with their booty before they could be pursued; but, at 
length, they began to settle themselves in permanent stations, 
(26) 



A. D. 870.] CHILDHOOD OF ALFRED. 27 

whence they could carry on regular operations over a wide 
extent of country. 

36. When the strong hand of Egbert was most needed to 
restrain their ravages, he died, and his son Ethelwolf, a weak 
and inefficient prince, was chosen to succeed him. He began 
by bestowing the three south-eastern provinces, Essex, Kent, 
and Sussex, upon his eldest son, Athelstan, and soon after- 
ward departed, with his youngest and favorite son, Alfred, 
on a pilgrimage to Rome. Regardless of the miseries of his 
people, he spent a year in prayers and offerings at the various 
holy places. Meanwhile, Athelstan died, and his brother 
Ethelbald joined a party among the nobles who wished to 
exclude his father from the throne. Civil war might have 
been added to all the other horrors of the time, had not 
Ethelwolf consented to a division of the kingdom, yielding 
the western and more peaceful portion to his son. 

37. In his return through France, Ethelwolf married the 
princess Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald. She is of im- 
portance to our history only by reason of her influence over 
her little step-son Alfred, whose bright young mind she stim- 
ulated by the reading of some old English poems, from a 
costly book which she numbered among her treasures. En- 
couraged by the offered gift of the book, the prince learned 
to read, — an accomplishment by no means easy, when neither 
primers nor teachers could be had. Alfred's perseverance 
procured immeasurable benefits not only to himself, but to 
his race. 

38. On the death of Ethelwolf, his third son, Ethelbert, 
was promoted to a share in the kingdom; and upon the 
latter prince's death, eight years later, a still younger brother, 
Ethelred, succeeded to his place. The Danes continued their 
ravages with ever-increasing assurance. In one 

of their raids they captured Edmund, the tribu- 
tary king of East Anglia, to whom they offered the alternative 
of death or apostasy. If he would become a pagan, he 



28 OLD ENGL A AD. [A. D. 871. 



might continue to hold his kingdom, subject to their suprem- 
acy. Scorning tins insulting proposition, Edmund was bound 
to a tree and made a target for their arrows, until, wearying 
of their brutal sport, they at last beheaded him. He was 
honored as a saint and martyr, and the place still bears his 
name, — Bury St. Edmunds. 

39. Ethelred met his death in battle with the Danes, and 
Alfred was called from his favorite studies to the toils and 
heavy responsibilities of a king. For seven years he warred 
bravely, and often successfully', against the heathen invaders, 
who possessed the whole country north of the Thames ; but, 
their numbers ever increasing, he was compelled, at length, 
to hide himself, and leave his kingdom to their ravages. On 
one occasion, we are told, he was sheltered by one of his 
herdsmen, whose wife was ignorant of her guest's true rank. 
Being called away, the good woman one day charged him 
with the care of some cakes which were left baking over the 
fire. Alfred, absorbed in heavier cares, neglected his trust, 
and was punished by a violent scolding. 

40. The Danes grew careless as they met with no opposi- 
tion, and Alfred found means of collecting some of his follow- 
ers, with whom he fortified himself on an island of firm ground 
in the midst of a bog in Somersetshire. Encircled by marshes 
and forests, he was still hidden from the invaders, who were 
often surprised by a night attack from some unknown foe. 
Thus the spirits of the English revived, and the little island 
court was well maintained by forage. 

41. Before calling a general muster of his people, Alfred 
resolved to see for himself the numbers and position of the 
enemy. Availing himself of a gift which he had cultivated 
with great delight in times of peace, the King disguised himself 
as a harper, and boldly entered the Danish camp near Ethan- 
dune. His songs and jokes proved so acceptable to the sol- 
diers, that he was introduced to the tent of Guthrum, their 
chief, and royally entertained for several days. Here he had 



A. D. 886.] THE DANISH INCURSIONS. 29 

every opportunity to learn the character and intentions of the 
Danes. He found them lazy and negligent, despising the 
English and fearing no attack. 

42. The moment was favorable. Swiftly and secretly mus> 
tering his forces, Alfred fell upon the Danish encampment. 
Surprise aided the English arms, and the rout was complete. 
Guthrum fled, and with his surviving warriors took refuge in 
a fortified camp ; but hunger soon compelled him to surrender 
on Alfred's own terms. These were dictated by 

J A. D. 878. 

a policy nobler than revenge. The north-eastern 
coasts of England were already depopulated by the ravages 
of the Danes. Alfred resolved to turn his late enemies into 
friends, by granting them large tracts of land in permanent 
possession, on the condition, however, of their ceasing from 
their ravages, and exchanging their fierce worship of Woden 
for the Christian faith. 

43. Softened, perhaps, by terms so much more generous 
than he had a right to expect, Guthrum accepted the proposal 
and received baptism, with the Christian name of Athelstan. 
Danish and Saxon England were separated by the Roman 
military road, called Watling Street, which ran from London 
to Chester. Absorbed in their new possessions, the Anglo- 
Danes did not often molest the kingdom of Alfred ; though 
the fresh swarms of their pagan countrymen, continually ar- 
riving from beyond the sea, threatened to crowd out the 
earlier possessors of the island. 

44. The years of comparative peace which followed were 
employed by Alfred in civilizing and protecting his kingdom. 
London and several other cities which had been burnt by the 
Danes, were now rebuilt. The coast was guarded by a pow- 
erful fleet, while a regular militia was trained to defend the 
land. Nor did the good King neglect the education of his 
people. He found them ignorant and rude. Nearly all the 
monasteries, with their libraries, had been destroyed by the 
Danes, and the terror of their ravages had broken up all the 



30 OLD ENGLAND. [A. D. 886. 

customs of peaceful and orderly life. Alfred first restored 
peace and security ; then he founded schools, and required 
every owner of two hides of land to send his children thither 
for instruction. He invited learned men and skillful artisans 
from the Continent : he employed the former in translating 
Greek and Latin books into the English of his time, and the 
latter in enriching the kingdom by useful arts and manu- 
factures. 

45. Alfred himself, by the most careful economy of time, 
found leisure from his great cares to write or translate several 
books, which he thought best fitted to be useful to his people. 
Among these were a History of the World, by Orosius, and 
the "Consolations of Philosophy," by Boethius, beside some 
invaluable versions of the Psalms and other portions of the 
Holy Scriptures. He made a new collection of the laws of 
Ethelbert (§ 27), Offa, and Ina, to which he added some 
enactments of his own. 

He revived the old German division into tithings, hundreds, 
and shires, for the sake of a more exact enforcement of justice. 
The first consisted of ten families ; the second, of a hundred. 
All the members were held responsible for a crime committed 
within their number, and were bound to produce the offender 
before the proper court. An innocent man could always clear 
himself by bringing ten of his neighbors, members of the same 
hundred, who would bear witness under oath to his integrity 
of character, or to his absence from the place where the crime 
was alleged to have been committed. This is probably the 
origin of our later and universal custom of trial by jury. 

46. The last eight years of Alfred's reign were disturbed by- 
fresh incursions of the Northmen under Hasting, one of the 
fiercest of their leaders. Driven from France by a famine, 
these barbarians landed on the Kentish coast, and spread their 
ravages over the country. Alfred met them with his accus- 
tomed energy, and by a severe contest of several years, at 
length restored peace to his kingdom. 



A. D. 925.] BRITAIN UNITED. 31 

This great king died in A. D. 901, in the fifty-second year 
of his age. His reign of thirty years had been devoted, with 
the most intense diligence, to promoting the best interests of 
his people. He had fought fifty-six battles by land and sea, 
and had excelled most sovereigns in his labors as lawgiver and 
judge. Yet he had found time to acquire more learning, and 
even to write more books, than most men of uninterrupted 
leisure. His moral greatness was first proved in conquests 
over himself, in tempering justice with gentleness ; and history 
records no merely human character more near perfection than 
that of Alfred the Great. 

47. His eldest son, Edmund, was already dead; his second, 
Ethelward, preferred a private and studious life ; the choice 
of the "wise men ' ; fell, therefore, on Edward, the third son, 
who became king in his father's place. His cousin, Ethel- 
wolf, attempted to seize the crown. Being defeated, he joined 
the Danes, and invited fresh hordes from beyond the sea to 
attack his native land. Edward was aided in his defense by 
the quick wit and high spirit of his sister Ethelfleda, the Lady 
of Mercia ; and the fame of his success gained him the volun- 
tary homage of the princes of Wales, Northumbria, 
Strathclyde, and Scotland. These had suffered no 

less than England from the ravages of the Danes, and were 
glad to place themselves under the protection of the victorious 
king. Edward's own kingdom reached to the Humber, while 
his "over-lordship" embraced the whole of Britain and the 
Western Isles. (See § 33.) 

48. Let us try to gain a clear idea of the constitution of this 
Saxon kingdom. The crown, as we have seen (§ 26), was 
elective, though the choice was usually restricted to one fam- 
ily. Before the German tribes had settled into highly organ- 
ized nations, every freeman was entitled to appear in arms at 
the council of his chief; and the affairs of the whole people 
were transacted at the March or May fields, under the open 
heaven. These martial assemblies gave way, on the Continent, 



"Map 3, 




A. D. 925.] MEETINGS OF THE WISE. 33 

to diets in which the clergy had a part, and in England, to 
assemblies of the witan, or "wise men. 7 ' In strict law, every 
freeman had still a right to be present, but the difficulties of 
travel and communication rendered this impossible, and the 
assembly came to consist chiefly of bishops, abbots, and 
ealdormen. 

49. The witenagemote, or " Meeting of the Wise," was there- 
fore convened alternately at different places, — usually at Win- 
chester, the West Saxon capital, for the southern shires; at 
Gloucester, for the western ; at London, for the eastern, and 
at York, for the northern, after the Danelagh ceased to be 
distinguished from the rest of England. At the three former 
cities the King " wore his crown," in turn, on the three great 
festivals of the Christian year; and thither all people who 
had petitions to make, or wrongs to be righted, might bring 
their suit. Nothing of importance was done without the 
advice of the "wise men." With their concurrence, Alfred 
and his successors required each maritime town to provide 
and maintain a ship for the defense of the coast ; and it was 
early understood that no tax must be laid upon the people 
but with their consent. 

50. The people of England consisted of three ranks : Earls, 
Churls, and Serfs. The second included the great mass of 
freemen ; the last were mostly descendants of the conquered 
Britons. An Englishman could become a serf only by crime 
or voluntary sale. Parents sometimes sold their children ; and 
a person more than thirteen years of age might sell himself. 
The Church was the constant foe to serfage ; and several good 
bishops set the example of emancipating the serfs whom they 
found upon the lands attached to their sees. Between earls 
and churls, gradually grew up the* rank of Thanes, who were 
ennobled by services rendered to the king or the state. But. 
originally, all high offices were reserved for men of noble 
blood : the ealdormen, or chief rulers of cities and villages, 
were chosen from among the earls; and every churl was 

Eng —3. 



34 OLD ENGLAND. [A. D. 925. 

required to choose some earl as his lord and protector. The 
"lordless man" was an outlaw; for, under the ravages of the 
Danes, he was sure to be unable to provide for the defense 
of himself or his family. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Scandinavian pirates vex the coasts of all the British islands; hum 
and plunder churches, monasteries, and villages. Ethelwolf 's pilgrim- 
age to Rome ; his marriage with Judith. Alfred's accession, after the 
death of his four brothers ; his wars with the Danes ; his concealment. 
Me reconnoiters the Danish camp in disguise ; surprises and defeats 
the Northmen ; cedes to them the eastern shires north of the Thames, 
on condition of their ceasing from piracy and becoming Christians. 
Protects his kingdom by ships and forts; improves it by schools, lit- 
erature, and good laws. 

Edward unites the whole island under his sway. "Meetings of 
the Wise " take place of armed assemblies of old German tribes. 
Taxes levied only with their concurrence. Population consists of 
earls, churls, and serfs. 

Read : Thorpe's Ancient Laws and Lnstitutes of England ; J. M. 
Kemble's The Saxons in England ; and Green as before, p. 25. 



IV. FALL OF THE SAXONS. 




DWARD'S son, Athelstan, 

(A. D. 925-940,) was one 

of the greatest Saxon kings, 

and England in his time was 

; renowned in Europe for her 

j wealth and splendor. Five 

I of his sisters were married 

I to sovereigns or great lords 

on the Continent : one was 

Queen of France ; another 

was wife of Hugh the Great, 

the "king-maker" of his 

Danish Ship. ^ ^ ^^ . ^ Editha> 

highest of all in rank, was consort of Otho, King of the 
Germans, and afterward emperor. From these alliances grew 
much commerce * and frequent intercourse between England 
and the Continent. Several foreign princes were intrusted to 
Athelstan's care and instruction. Nearest to him was his 
royal nephew, afterward King Louis IV., of France, who 
learned from his uncle to act with spirit and efficiency amid 
the troubles which attended the decline of his race. 

52. Athelstan added Northumbria to his own immediate 
dominion, and thus became sole king of all the Germans in 
Britain, as well as over-lord of all the Celtic principalities. 
But his turbulent vassals needed strong and vigilant goverm 
ing. The North Welsh and the Scots aided each other in a 
revolt; and when this was put down, it was soon followed by 
a grand conspiracy of Scots, Welsh, and Irish, with Danes 



" :i; Among other laws for the encouragement of commerce, Athel- 
stan ordered that any merchant who had made three long voyages 
on his own account, should be admitted to the rank of thane ($ 50). 

(55) 



.;<> \ \ |A. D o.;- 

from beyond the sea, Phe King defeated and routed them 
m the great battle ol Brunanburgh, which was sung b\ Eng 
lish minstrels as the most glorious ol victories 

k ; l'n\n \n i succeeded ins brother Athelstan, A. IV 
040 He subdued the Celtic kingdom of Strathclyde, ami 
l>esto\ved h upon Malcolm, King of Scotland, on condition 
of homage and die defense of the northern oust against the 
Danes, Edmund met an untimely death from the dagger of 
\ robber, and his sons being kh> young to succeed him, Ins 
brother Edred was chosen king bj the witan, Edred had to 
keep .1 firm hand upon the Northumbrian Danes, 
who wno always turbulent .mo! unruly, With the 
aid of his great minister, Dunstan, ho reduced them .hum- a 
time to ±ok\\ beha\ ior, 

54, Dunstan was the most remarkable man o\ his time. 

Born of noble parents, and endowed with extraordinary 
talents, he was earl) famous tor his learning and accomplish- 
ments, He could paint and engrave; he copied and illu- 
minated books with the most exquisite designs; he wrought 
envious patterns m gold and silver; and. above all. he won 
the love of King Athelstan b\ the songs he composed and 
sang to the music of his harp. 

55, tn those days and long afterward, it was dangerous to 
know too much, Dunstan's rivals at court accused him of 

•1 arts, and procured his banishment and disgrace. 
His ambition was not crushed, but only turned into a new 
channel. He dug a cell no larger than a grave, whore he 
shut himself up for months, and by fasting and self-torture 
gained a reputation for extraordinary holiness He was said 
to be visited by angels, and to gain victories over the Prime 
of Darkness Such spiritual gifts could not be suffered to 
rest in obscurity. The monk Dunstan was made Abb 

ry, and King Edred exalted him to be his most 
. 



A. D 95I Dl 1 ■ / • POWER. 

r /> Ed 

H 
in England of thai ;■ 
the Chun h and the re 
foi D 

oi royal de icent, and, contr 

ting in the 
1 
drunki Queen and 

her mother. Dunstan : 
the m 

info the company I quitted. 

57. Edti ;. . ivrath drove Ij m tan I oi tl ; but 
Odo, f(,f.- prim; / ... He 

up ,-) revolt among the Northumbrian 1 1 

Edgar, the K i I he 

church party gained the Archbishop Odo, with 

■a part;, <>\ 

tiful face of the 1 en 

oner into Ireland. Edwy, 
d to a divorce. Poor I. .rning 

from her banishment, but only to fall into the hand 

who put her to a cruel death. Her unhapp) h 
-.on afterward, and th i oppositii 

.on (A. D. 958) or to Dui I irn. 

58. Edg/ ■■ grateful and obedient ally of the party 
which had raised him to the throne; and as v. were 

of the- time, we shall r. o find 

him repre one of the , t, and best of 

monarchs. He- wa in truth able and efficient; and the 
erful fleet which he- maintained checked all hostile movements 
of the D ..• either within his own border-, or beyond the 
Bj D dvice, he divided Northumbria into 

three great earldoms. Deira (§ 25,. south of the 'lee.-,, be- 



3$ OLD ENGLAND. [A. D. 958. 



came the modern Yorkshire ; the central portion, between 
the Tees and the Tweed, kept the ancient name of the whole ; 
and the country north of the Tweed, now called Lothian, was 
bestowed as an English fief upon the King of Scots. It be- 
came the favorite residence of the Scottish kings, who fixed 
their capital at Edinburgh, or Edwin's borough, so called from 
the first Christian king of Northumbria (§ 30). 

59. The forbearance of the foreign Danes may have been 
due to their obtaining extensive territories in the north-west 
of France, which for a time afforded room for all the new- 
comers from the northern shores. The duchy of Normandy 
was to have an important part in the history of England. 
Edgar gained many victories over the tributary, but not 
always obedient, princes of Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the 
Orkneys, and the Isle of Man. On one occasion, when he 
was making his yearly inspection of all the English coasts, 
his barge was rowed up the River Dee by eight vassal kings. 

60. Among Edgar's first acts was the elevation of Dunstan 
to the archbishopric of Canterbury. The primate found ex- 
ercise for his great talents and indomitable will, in reforming 
the English convents after the strict rule of the Benedictines. 
This order had arisen in Italy nearly four hundred years be- 
fore, and had already done good service to the world by 
copying and preserving the greatest treasures of ancient lit- 
erature. Doubtless, too, the quiet retreat within convent 
walls afforded to many weak souls the only opportunity for 
a holy life, amid the corruptions and tumults of those dark 
ages. 

Monks, or regular clergy, were now in many places sub- 
stituted for the parish priests, or secular clergy, who, up to 
*his time, were permitted to marry. 

But Dunstan was chiefly the prime minister. Under his 
r ule the different races became united in feeling as one people. 
The Danes of the north country (^§42, 43) were recognized 
vs Englishmen, and rose to high offices in Church and State. 



A. D. iooo.] DANES AND NORMANS. 39 

The name of the land was now first changed from Britain to 
England. London became a center of brisk and profitable 
trade with the Continent, and foreigners thronged the streets, 

61. Edgar was succeeded by his eldest son, Edward the 
Martyr, a boy of thirteen years. But the enmity 

of his step-mother, Elfrida, a bold, ambitious 
woman, who desired to place her own son upon the throne, 
pursued him during his short and troubled reign of three 
years, and brought him at last to a violent death. Her son 
Ethelred was then crowned; but his reign of 

• i , , ,■ -, , , A. D. 978-1016. 

thirty-eight years brought little except trouble to 
himself or his people. The Danish inroads recommenced 
with terrible fury, and the King's surname, "the Unready," 
only too well expresses his weak and 'inefficient policy in 
dealing with them. By buying their retreat with 16,000 
pounds of silver, he only insured their return in greater force, 
with a demand for 24,000, while he fixed upon his people, 
for the first time, an odious tax called the Dane-geld. 

62. In A. D. 993, the kings of Denmark and Norway 
sailed up the Humber, and spread their ravages far and wide 
over the country. The next year, they entered the Thames 
with ninety-four vessels and besieged London. But the mer- 
chants and mechanics were braver than king or nobles, and 
the besiegers were at length forced to withdraw. A full 
third part of Great Britain and Ireland, with all the smaller 
islands belonging to them, were now in the grasp of the 
"Raven"; and Ethelred's most trusted favorites sold the 
country to his enemies, almost under his eyes. 

63. Ethelred was never ready for action, except at the 
wrong time. He wasted the force of his kingdom in rav- 
aging Cumberland, because King Malcolm would not help 
him to buy off the Danes; and he made a rash and unpre- 
pared invasion of Normandy, to punish its people for having 
harbored and encouraged the northern pirates. It was true 
that the plunder of England was regularly exchanged, on the 



40 OLD ENGLAND. [A. D. iooo. 

wharves of Rouen, for the wines of France. But Ethelred's 
expedition failed; for the peasantry of the Norman coast, 
arming themselves "with hook and with crook, with fork 
and with spike, with club and with flail," made so valiant a 
resistance, that the English were glad to find refuge in their 
ships. 

64. The settlement in north-western France, made under 
the grant of Charles the Simple to Rolf the Dane (§ 59), 
had grown into the rich and well-governed duchy of Nor- 
mandy. The sea-robbers dropped their piratical habits, to- 
gether with their old Norse language and the worship of 
Woden and Thor, and speedily surpassed their French neigh- 
bors in industry, intelligence, and the maintenance of public 
order. Golden bracelets are said to have been suspended 
for years, by the Duke's order, upon a tree near Rouen, no 
robber presuming to touch them. But in its most flourishing 
state of Christian civilization, Normandy always contained a 
strong pagan party, which kept up intimate relations with its 
kinsmen beyond the sea, and could call a swarm of "sea- 
dragons" into French harbors whenever the Duke had a 
quarrel with the King or with his Flemish neighbors. 

Peace being made, King Ethelred sought to conciliate 

both classes of Danes by marrying Emma, sister of Duke 

Richard II. But the very next year, with a cruelty no less 

idiotic than wicked, he ordered a massacre of all 

A. D. 1002. 

the Danes who had remained in England from 
the recent invasions. A sister of Sweyn, the King of Den- 
mark, was among the victims, after seeing the murder of her 
husband and children ; and in the agony of her despair she 
declared that her sufferings would be avenged by the ruin 
of the English king and people. 

65. Her prophecy was fulfilled. The Danes soon ap- 
peared in irresistible force upon the western coasts, and for 
ten years Sweyn, rather than Ethelred, held sovereign power 
in England. Upon the death of the Dane, his son Knut 



A. D. 10 1 6.] DANISH CONQUEST. 41 

disputed the possession of the crown with Edmund Iron- 
sides, Ethelred's eldest son. The unready King died before 
the contest was decided, and his braver son was compelled 
to divide the kingdom with his Danish rival. But Edric, 
Duke of Mercia, one of Ethelred's most treacherous favorites, 
procured the murder of the Saxon prince, and Knut the 
Dane became king of all England. 



RECAPITULATION. 

Greatness of England under Athelstan. His foreign alliances and 
commerce with the Continent. Edmund bestows Srrathclyde upon 
King of Scotland. Edred subdues Northumbrian Danes. Talents 
and rising power of Dunstan. His contention with Edwy begins the 
rivalry of Church and State in England. 

Edgar's obedience to the Church ; he bestows Lothian upon Scot- 
tish king ; his supremacy over neighboring princes. Dunstan reforms 
the monasteries and persecutes the secular clergy. Murder of Edward 
II.; accession of Ethelred the Unready. Progress of the Danes. Ethel- 
red invades Normandy ; marries Emma ; orders massacre of Danes in 
England. Sweyn's supremacy. Death of Ethelred, murder of his son, 
and accession of Knut. 

A wholly different account of Edwy's reign is found in Lingard's 
History of England, Vol. i, Chap. v. Read also Freeman's Old English 
History, and History of the A r orman Conquest, Vol. i. 



V. DANISH KINGS AND SAXON RESTORATION. 




Death of Harold at Hastings 



HERE were now five English 
princes who might have been 
candidates for the crown, but not 
one of age or character enough 
to dispute it with the victorious 
Dane. Edmund's own brother 
died the following year ; his half- 
brothers, the sons of Ethelred 
and Emma, were in Normandy 
with their uncle ; and his two 
little children were sent by Knut 
to the King of Sweden, with a 
hint, it is said, that they were to 
be put forever out of the way. 
King Olaf, choosing the more 
generous construction of this request, sent the infant princes 
to be educated at the court of King Stephen of Hungary. 

67. Knut had already summoned a council of the whole 

nation at London, which chose him, by a nearly unanimous 

vote, to be "King of the English." Like a 
A. D. 1016-1035. b . to 

wise ruler, he then set himself to make his 

authority as agreeable as possible to his new subjects. He 
dismissed his Danish followers, having first paid them lib- 
erally by a tax imposed upon the English ; he restored the 
laws and customs of Athelstan and Edgar ; and he provided 
for security of life and property by strict administration of 
justice. To hush the claims of the young sons of Ethelred 
to the crown, he proposed to marry their widowed mother ; 
and Emma consented to the strange alliance. 

68. Knut was a very pious king, according to the ideas 

(42) 



A. D. 1041.1 KNUT AXD HIS SOXS. 43 

of the time. He bestowed much wealth upon churches and 
monasteries, and went to Rome in the character of a pilgrim. 
Thence he wrote a kind and fatherly letter to his people, 
telling them the events of his journey, describing the gifts 
and honors which had been conferred upon him by the Pope 
and by the Emperor Conrad, in whose coronation he bore a 
distinguished part ; and the privileges he had been able to 
obtain for his people. He confesses that the early years of 
his reign were oppressive, and promises redress, assuring 
them that King Knut needs no money which must be gained 
by injustice. If we modernize the spelling, we find this 
"King's English" easy to understand: "First, above all 
things, are men one God ever to love and worship, and one 
Christendom with one consent to hold, and Knut King to 
love with right truthfulness." 

69. As the sovereign of a great Scandinavian empire, 
Knut often had to quit his island-kingdom to resist the in- 
roads of his neighbors on the Continent. In one of these 
campaigns, the Saxon Earl Godwin won the King's gratitude 
by his magnificent energy and valor; and was rewarded by 
marriage with the daughter of Knut, as well as by his perfect 
confidence and esteem. Knut left three sons : Sweyn and 
Harold from a first marriage, and Hardiknut, son of Emma. 
The latter should, by his parents' marriage contract, have 
mcceeded to the English throne ; but he was absent in Den- 
mark, and was, moreover, hated by the Anglo-Danes. Harold 
was therefore proclaimed king ; but Earl Godwin upheld the 
rights of Hardiknut, and the question was at length settled 
by a division, the younger prince having all the shires south 
of the Thames. 

70. Harold died in A. D. 1040, and Hardiknut became 
King of all England. He was a drunken wretch, and his short 
reign presents nothing worth mentioning. Upon his death, 
his half-brother, Edward, now the only surviving son of 
Ethelred and Emma, came to the throne by the hearty choice 



44 OLD ENGLAND. [A. D. 1042. 

of the people. "Before Harold, King, buried were, all folk 
chose Edward to king at London," says the old Saxon chron- 
icle. But their joy in the restoration of their 

A. D. 1042-1066 . r 1 1 ■, 1 1 

native line of rulers was soon clouded by disap- 
pointment. Edward was in fact a Frenchman, half by birth 
and wholly by preference. He loved the land of his educa- 
tion and early years better than that which he was called to 
rule. Most of the high places in the church and about his 
court were given to Normans, who despised the civil freedom 
and sneered at the barbarous language and manners of the 
English. They could not understand a government where 
even a churl might have his place in the great council, and 
under which the poorest man's hut was as inviolable as the 
earl's castle. 

71. This feeling came to a violent outbreak when Eustace, 
Count of Boulogne, a great lord from over the Channel, 
came to visit his brother-in-law, King Edward, with a long 
train of attendants. Returning through Dover, his followers 
attempted to force themselves into free quarters in the houses 
of the citizens. The master of one house was killed while 
defending his home, and the whole city rose in tumult to 
avenge him. Nearly forty persons were killed on both sides. 

The Count, hastening back to Edward's court, bitterly 
complained of the insult to his dignity, and demanded the 
punishment of the offenders. The King instantly ordered a 
military execution, with all the horrors of fire and sword; 
but Earl Godwin, who was Governor of Dover, firmly re- 
fused to execute the sentence. He told Count Eustace that 
law, not violence, was supreme in England : let him bring 
his complaint into a court of justice, and all who were guilty 
would surely be punished. 

72. For this defense of his countrymen, Earl Godwin and 
his four sons were banished; and their governments, com- 
prising one-third of all England, were given to others. Their 
private estates were confiscated; and even the Queen, a 



A. D. 1052.] EARL GODWIN. 45 

daughter of Godwin, was imprisoned in a convent. Nothing 
remained to oppose the foreign party in the court, and 
within a few months, William, Duke of Normandy, came 
with a great retinue to visit the King. He was received 
with great honors, and so conducted himself as to acquire 
Edward's confidence and good-will. It is supposed that at 
this time the King, who had no children, promised to recom- 
mend his Norman cousin to the witan, as a candidate for the 
English crown. 

73. But Godwin was not yet forgotten by the nation whose 
champion he was; and he had, moreover, many powerful 
friends abroad. His son Harold raised a squadron in Ireland, 
while Godwin collected a still larger fleet in the Flemish 
ports. Joining their forces at the Isle of Wight, they sailed 
to London, followed along the shore by a constantly increas- 
ing multitude of men, who declared their determination to 
live or die with the great Earl. The King's levies stood on 
the north bank of the Thames; but Godwin's army, unsum- 
moned save by its own will, crowded the southern bank. 
The Earl held back his forces : he would rather die, he said, 
than do or permit any act of irreverence toward his lord the 
King. 

74. The witenagcmote, now summoned to decide between 
the native and foreign government of England, met in arms 
without the walls of London (§ 48). With his four brave 
sons, Godwin took his place in the assembly. He knelt and 
laid his battle-ax at the feet of the King ; then, rising, asked 
leave to defend himself from the unjust charges which had 
been brought against himself and his house. His short but 
eloquent speech was received with shouts of approval. The 
voice of his countrymen pronounced him guiltless, and de- 
creed the restoration of all their honors and estates to him- 
self, his sons, and his followers. The Queen was brought 
back from her convent, and resumed her true place in the 
court. 



46 OLD ENGLAND. [A. D. 1052. 

75. All the French were pronounced outlaws, because 
they had given bad counsel to the King, and brought un- 
righteous judgments into the land. A third decree restored 
the "good laws" of Edward's earlier days. At the first de- 
cision to refer Godwin's cause, not to the sword, but to the 
votes of a free people, the Norman bishops, priests, and 
knights, who had been eating up the land, took horse and 
fled : even the Primate, quitting his holy office, sought refuge 
beyond the sea. A better time dawned upon' England when 
her own best men held sway. But Earl Godwin did not live 
long to enjoy his restored honors. He was succeeded in all 
his dignities, and in more than his popularity, by his son 
Harold, whose noble qualities had already won the confi- 
dence of king and people. 

76. Under Harold's ministry, an invasion of Scotland was 
ordered by the witan, and executed by Siward, Earl of 
Northumberland, — a chief of extraordinary strength and 
courage, who was reputed (ages before Mr. Darwin lived) 
to have had for one of his ancestors a Norwegian bear. 
Macbeth, Thane of Moray, had murdered his king, Duncan, 
and possessed his throne. But Duncan's son, Malcolm, now 
reclaimed his rights, and was raised by Earl Siward's victory 
to the throne of his fathers. Macbeth was slain in battle, 
four years later. 

Malcolni had spent fifteen years of his exile at Edward's 
court, where he laid aside his Gaelic speech and costume, 
and acquired that foreign culture which ever afterward pre- 
vailed in the Scottish government, however odious it may 
have been for a time to the Scottish people. The history of 
Malcolm, in tact, was much like that of his patron and over- 
lord. Both spent their youth in exile, — Edward in Nor- 
mandy, and Malcolm in England; and both exchanged their 
native language, tastes, and habits for those of more cultivated 
nations. 

77. King Edward, growing old and having no son, sent 



A. D. 1065.] HAROLD AND WILLIAM. 47 



to Hungary for his nephew, the only surviving son of Ed- 
mund Ironsides (§66). But the prince died a few days after 
his arrival in England, leaving his son Edgar, with two sisters, 
as the sole representatives of Cerdics royal line. Edgar the 
Atheling was a feeble child, and it was then thought essential 
that an English king should be born and bred in England. 
The "wise men " had therefore to look for another successor 
to the throne ; and there is little doubt that their choice fell 
on Earl Harold, who, though claiming no descent from Wo- 
den, was the greatest living Englishman in all the qualities of 
mind and body which befitted a king. He had been intrusted 
since his father's death with the chief administration of the 
English government. He had conquered the Welsh and es- 
tablished the royal authority over Scotland. Every-where his 
strong hand had maintained the honor and safety of England. 

78. At one time, when cruising for pleasure in the English 
Channel, he had been shipwrecked upon the Norman coast. 
According to the barbarous custom of that day, he was seized 
and held for ransom ; but as soon as Duke William heard of 
it, he ordered his release, and welcomed him with splendid 
hospitality at the Norman court. 

Before he was permitted to depart, he was compelled to 
enter into engagements with William, the nature of which has 
been very differently represented by different writers. Some 
say that he promised to support the Duke's pretensions to the 
English throne, and to put him in possession, even during 
Edward's life, of the castle and well of Dover, and of several 
other fortresses which Harold held under his oath of alle- 
giance to his King. If Harold made any such engagement, 
he promised what it would have been treason to perform ; 
and we want better witness than that of his enemies,— who, 
after his death, sought in every way to blacken his memory 
and exalt the fame of the Duke, his conqueror,— before we 
believe that the lifelong champion of English independence 
ever swore to betray his country to the Normans. 



48 OLD ENGLAND. [A. D. 1065. 

79. Returning to England, Harold, by his bravery and 
prudence, raised himself to yet higher influence. His brother 
Tostig had been appointed Earl of Northumberland; but his 
merciless enforcement of justice, in that distracted country, 
enraged the people, who rebelled with the aid of Edwin and 
Morcar, grandsons of the former Earl. Harold was sent to 
put down the revolt ; but finding that some of the complaints 
against his brother were well founded, he persuaded the King 
to confirm Morcar in the earldom. He also obtained the 
government of Mercia for Edwin, Morcar's brother; and he 
married their sister, widow of the Welsh prince Griffith, whom 
he had conquered. 

80. King Edward died Jan. 5, 1066. From his death-bed 
he stretched out his hand to the Earl of the West Saxons, and 
said, "To thee, Harold my brother, I commit my kingdom." 
In spite of his weaknesses and errors, Edward was dearly 
loved by his people ; and later sovereigns well knew that the 
surest way to win their favor was to promise the enforcement 
of his laws. He was the first English king whose touch was 
believed to be a cure for scrofula. About a hundred years 
after his death he was canonized as a saint, and is usually 
called " the Confessor." He was buried in the West Minster, 
a magnificent church which he had dedicated to St. Peter 
(§ 29) a few days before, — the building of which had been 
the chief employment of his later years. It continues to this 
day to be the burial-place of England's heroes and statesmen, 
though her princes are buried at Windsor. Edward's tomb 
is among its most imposing objects, and near it is the chair 
of stone in which every English sovereign sits at his cor- 
onation. 

81. On the same day and under the same roof which 
witnessed Edward's burial, Harold, son of Godwin, was 

crowned. It was a memorable year that was 

A. D. 1066. . * 

opened by these solemn rites. Before its close, 
England had suffered two great invasions from the north and 



A. D. 1066.] BATTLE OF STAMFORD BRIDGE. 49 

from the south, had raised and maintained greater fleets and 
armies than she had ever known before, and finally submitted 
to the yoke of the Norman conqueror. 

82. Tostig, the brother of Harold, was the only domestic 
traitor of whom we know. He stirred up Harold Hardrada, 
King of Norway, to make England again the seat of a great 
Scandinavian empire, like that of Knut (§ 69). With a fleet 
greater than had ever issued from any northern port, joined 
by ships from Iceland, the Orkneys, Scotland, Flanders, and 
the Danish settlements in Ireland, the Norwegian King sailed 
southward along the eastern coasts of England, burned Scar- 
borough and Holderness, and, landing, defeated Edwin and 
Morcar in a fierce battle near York. 

83. That northern capital opened its gates to the invader 
before King Harold of England could come to its rescue. 
He had left the defense of the northern counties to their own 
earls, while he himself watched the southern coast, where the 
Normans were expected. But when he heard of the ill suc- 
cess of Edwin and Morcar, he marched northward with all 
speed. 

The two Harolds met at Stamford Bridge, and in a hard- 
fought battle of a whole day, the northern hosts were over- 
thrown. Their King and leader was slain: Tostig, too, 
expiated his treason with his life. In the midst of a banquet 
at York in honor of this victory, Harold of England received 
news of the landing of the Normans in Sussex. 

84. When Duke William, hunting in the park near Rouen, 
heard of King Edward's death and of Harold's accession to 
the throne, he was filled with rage, and branded the Saxon 
prince as a perjurer and usurper. He instantly sent off an 
embassy summoning Harold to resign his crown. This King 
Harold naturally refused to do ; and he even expelled from 
England all the Normans, who by King Edward's favor had 
been growing rich in English offices and estates. William 
was neither disappointed nor displeased; for this response 

Eng.— 4. 



50 OLD ENGLAND. [A. D. 1066. 



opened a way for the movement which he had long ago re- 
solved to make. 

85. An army of 60,000 men was on foot, and a fleet of 
nearly 1,000 sail was soon ready to convey it across the 
Channel. The Pope blessed and furthered the enterprise, 
on condition that the kingdom, when conquered, should be 
held as a fief of St. Peter. The great battle which was to 
turn the fate of England was fought at Senlac, nine miles 

from the seaport of Hastings. Harold fought on 

Oct. 14, 1066. l . . & fe 

foot at the head of his infantry ; but the best of 
his soldiers had fallen in the north, and the rest were wearied 
with forced marches, while the Normans were fresh and 
confident. 

The English were more or less disheartened by the Pope's 
displeasure ; and they had tried to drown their terrors, during 
the night before the battle, by revelry which had not made 
their hands more steady or their hearts stronger. Neverthe- 
less, both sides fought with a bravery worthy of the prize for 
which they were contending, and the battle raged from morn- 
ing until long after nightfall. At one time the cry arose that 
the Duke of Normandy was slain, and his followers almost 
every-where gave way ; but William, galloping bare-headed 
over the field, at length succeeded in rallying them. 

86. At last the Saxon King and his two brothers fell, and 
the English ranks were broken. The scattered hosts were 
pursued with great slaughter, and the field remained to the 
Norman Duke. The Pope's consecrated banner took the 
place of Harold's standard ; and on the same spot the altar 
of a magnificent abbey was erected by the Conqueror, that 
perpetual prayers might be offered for the repose of the souls 
that had passed away in that fierce conflict. 

87. The important towns of Dover, Canterbury, and Win- 
chester surrendered freely to W r illiam. Earls Morcar and 
Edwin, with Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury, made an 
attempt to crown Edgar the Atheling (§ 77), at London. But 



BATTLE OF HASTINGS. 51 

the northern earls had plans of their own more important to 
them than the defense of England. They withdrew their 
forces, and the young king-elect, with most of his sup- 
porters, repaired to William's camp and offered their sub- 
mission. The chief men of southern England, churchmen 
and statesmen, seeing no further hope of resistance, begged 
the Conqueror to accept the English crown. They hoped 
that the holy office (for such it was then considered) of 
anointing and coronation would work as great a change in 
him as it had wrought in Knut (^ 67), and convert the stern 
invader into a wise and beneficent sovereign. 



RECAPITULATION. 

Knut, being chosen king by the Great Council, rules England 
wisely and well. Visits Rome; has frequent wars in his northern 
empire ; confers power on Earl Godwin ; is succeeded by his two sons, 
Harold and Hardiknut ; the latter survives his brother, and reigns a 
year alone. 

"Edward the Confessor," becoming king, gives many offices and 
favors to foreigners. Godwin withstands the insolence of Count 
Eustace, and is exiled with his sons. Visit of William, Duke of Nor- 
mandy, to England. Godwin's triumphant return ; expulsion of the 
French. Harold, Godwin's son, becomes chief minister at his father's 
death. War against Macbeth of Scotland ; restoration of Malcolm 
Canmore. Death of Edward the Atheling ; choice of Harold to suc- 
ceed King Edward. His visit to Normandy ; his just dealings with 
Northumberland. Death of King Edward; coronation of Harold II. 

England is invaded by Harold of Norway, who conquers York, but 
is defeated and slain at Stamford Bridge. William of Normandy de- 
feats Harold of England in the great battle of Senlac, near Hastings, 
and southern Britain submits to the Conqueror. 

Read: Freeman's Norman Conquest, Vols, ii, iii ; Sir E. Creasy's 
Decisive Battles of the World, Chap, viii ; Kingsley's Hereward, the Last 
of the English; and Bulwer-Lytton's Harold, the Last of the English 



VI. CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE. 

WE pause a moment to see how the English people lived 
before they received a foreign king, and became sub- 
ject to foreign customs and laws. The Danish and Saxon sea- 
rovers had settled, by this time, into orderly people, tilling 
the soil, working the mines, — though less thoroughly than 
the Romans had done, — and carrying on an active trade 
with the Continent. English women were noted for their 
embroidery in gold thread, which was greatly valued in the 
French and Flemish cities. 

89. Their houses were low wooden buildings, with a hole 
in the roof in place of a chimney, and with wooden benches 
for chairs. A few very rich men had glass in their windows ; 
but no one had carpets, though the walls were often covered 
with richly embroidered tapestry. 

90. Before the time of Alfred, the monasteries were the 
only schools. They were not as strict and gloomy as the 
Benedictine institutions which Dunstan afterward introduced, 
but were more like great families gathered under one roof, or 
in a cluster of adjoining buildings, for study and devotion. 
Baeda — or the Venerable Bede, as he is commonly called — 

the first great English scholar, and the father of 
English learning, spent his long life in teaching 
the monks of Jarrow, and the boys whom their parents sent 
thither for instruction. For the benefit of his pupils, he put 
into familiar Latin text-books all that Western Europe then 
knew of science, literature, and the rules of music. His 
best known work is the Ecclesiastical History of the English 
Nation, which is written in Latin. He died at the moment 
of completing a translation of the Gospel of St. John into his 
own English tongue. 

91. On the high cliffs of Whitby, looking out over the 

(52) 



CJEDMON. 53 



German Ocean, the Abbess Hilda, a woman of royal birth, 
ruled a seminary of bishops and priests, as well as a con- 
vent of nuns. So great was her wisdom, that kings sought 
her counsel in state affairs. But her monastery is no less 
celebrated as the home of Caedmon, the first great English 
poet, who was only a poor cowherd. The English people 
loved music and the rough verses which recounted the brave 
deeds of their ancestors on sea and on land. After their 
evening meals, it was customary to pass the harp from hand 
to hand, that each in turn might sing for the entertainment 
of the rest. Caedmon the cowherd could not sing ; so he 
was accustomed to slip away w T hen the harp came near him. 

92. One night when he had taken refuge in the stables, he 
saw a heavenly vision which said, "Sing, Caedmon, some 
song to me." "I can not sing," he replied, 

& . 6 ' l ' A. D. 664. 

trembling. "However that may be, you shall 
sing to me," rejoined the visitant. "What shall I sing?" 
murmured Caedmon. "The beginning of created things," 
was the reply ; and immediately there flowed from Caedmon's* 
lips a noble song of the Creation. He woke and felt that a 
new power had been given him. The Abbess and brethren 
bade him quit his humble toil and enter their order ; and the 
rest of his life was employed in rehearsing in Saxon verse the 
whole Sacred History as recorded in the Bible. 

93. The zeal of the Irish missionaries made the north of 
England far superior to the rest of the island in means of 
education. The first Englisrrlibrary was kept in the cathedral 
at York ; and here a famous school was presided over first 
by Archbishop Egbert, and afterward by Alcuin, the friend 
of Charlemagne. King Alfred said that at his accession he 
knew no person south of the Thames, and but few south of 
the Humber, who understood the prayers in the churches. 
In that age, indeed, many a king "made his mark" at the 
foot of charters and treaties, because he could not write his 
name. Alfred provided for the education of his subjects 



OLD ENGLAND. 



south of the Watling Street, and he is even claimed as the 
founder of the University of Oxford. However this may be, 
he was the founder of English prose-writing. The "Anglo- 
Saxon Chronicle,'' first reduced to regular form in his day, 
and kept for centuries by the monks of Abingdon and Peter- 
borough, is our chief authority for early English history. 

94. The relations between nobles and common people un- 
derwent some important changes under the later Saxon kings. 
Many free land-holders, unable to maintain their independence, 
attached themselves to powerful lords, engaging to follow them 
in war, and sealed the agreement by the ceremony of homage. 
Kneeling before his new master, the vassal promised to be 
11 Ms man for life and limb." The same ceremony was re- 
peated, with greater magnificence, when the King of Scots 
did homage to Edgar or Edward for his earldoms of Cumbria 
and Lothian, or when the great Duke of Normandy rendered 
his princely fealty to the King of the French. 

95. This " Feudal System" of military service in exchange 
for lands and protection was universal in France, and it was 
fixed upon England by the Norman Conquest, especially after 
the great revolts and confiscations which resulted from the 
Conqueror's absence. It was then assumed that the whole 
land belonged to the King, who divided it in knights' fees 
among his followers, not only by way of rewarding their 
services, but for precaution against another English insurrec- 
tion. This standing army of 60,000 knights, whose strong 
castles commanded the entire country, completed the work 
which the Battle of Senlac had begun. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Industry and simple dwellings of the Saxons. Schools in the mon- 
asteries. Labors of I>ede as writer and teacher. Hilda's abbey at 
Whitby is the home of Qedmon the poet. Libraries and schools in 
the north of England. Alfred's labors in the south. Rise of the 
Feudal System; it becomes permanent after the Norman Conquest. 



QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW. 
PART I. 

1. What is known of the earliest inhabitants of Britain ? g£ i, 2 

2. What evidence exists of the habits of these prehistoric people ? 3-5 

3. Who were the first known visitors to the British Isles? 6 

4. Describe the wars of Caesar with the Britons. 7, 8 

5. The campaigns of Plautius and Ostorius. 9, 10 

6. The Druids, and their extermination. 1 1 — 13 

7. The revolt of Boadicea. 14 

8. The policy and success of Agricola. 15 

9. The inhabitants of Northern Britain. 16, 20, 21 

10. What Roman emperors were at any time in the island? 9, 16-18 

11. Who was the first Christian emperor? 18 

12. What were the effects of Roman influence in Britain? 9, 15, 19 

13. Describe the second conquest of Britain. 17 22, 25 

14. The customs of the Germans. 26, 45, 49, 50 

15. Why did the Romans abandon Britain? 21 

16. What was the condition of Ireland in the fifth century? 24 
17 When and how was Christianity introduced into Britain? 

18, 24, 25, 27-30 

18. Name the German kingdoms in England. 25 

19. What kings gave tribute to the Pope? 31 

20. Which kingdom ultimately absorbed all the rest? 26, 32, ^3 

21. Describe the Danish incursions. 34, 35 

22. The youth and reign of Alfred. 36-46 

23. On what conditions were the Danes settled in England ? 43 

24. Describe the dominion of Edward the Elder. 47 

25. The greatness of Athelstan. 51, 52 

26. The reigns of his brothers. 53 

27. The character and history of Dunstan. 54~5^ 

28. The reign of Edgar the Pacific. 57 - 6o 

29. Tell about monks and monasteries in England. 28, 30, 44, 60 

30. Describe the two sons of Edgar. 61-65 

31. The reigns of Knut and his sons. 67-70 

(55) 



56 OLD ENGLAND, 



32. Tell the history of Edward the Confessor. §§ 66, 70-77, 80 

33. What relations between the kings of Scotland and of England ? 

53, 58, 63, 76 

34. Relate the history of Harold, Godwin's son. 75-86 

35. Describe the Norman Conquest. 84-87 

36. The houses and employments of the Saxons. 88, 89 

37. The early English monasteries. 90, 91 

38. Tell the story of the first English poet. 91, 92 

39. What differences between the north and south of England? 93 

40. Describe the rise and progress of feudalism in England. 94, 95 



Saxon and Danish Kings. 







Egbert. 

1 
Ethelwolf. 

1 




1 1 

Athelstan. Ethelbald. 


1 1 

Ethelbert. Ethelred. 


1 

Alfred. 

I 


Edmund. 




1 

Ethelward. 


1 
Edward. 
1 


I 
Athelst 


AN. 

1 

Ethelr 

Edmune 
Ironside 


I 
Edmund. 

1 


l 

Edred. 


1 
Edward 
the Martyr. 

§61. 


1 1 

Edwy. Edgar. 

1 

ed II. m. 2 Emma of 

Normandy, who m. 

1 1 

Edward 

the Confessor. 

t m. King Malcolm III. 
nd. 1 99. 

m. Henry T. of 
I 115. (Seep. 69.) 


2 Knut, 


1 

Edmund. 
11 66, 77. 


1 

Edward 
the Exile 
1 


Hardi- 

KNUT. 
S6 9 . 


1 

Edgar 

the Atheling. 

U 11, 87- 


1 
Margare 
of Scotia 

1 
Matilda 
England. 





PART II.-FEUDAL ENGLAND. 



I. THE REIGN OF THE CONQUEROR. 




Norman Knights. 



ILLIAM of Normandy was 
crowned in Westminster Ab- 
bey, Dec. 25, 1066, one year 
from the day of its consecra- 
tion (§80). Both English 
and Norman nobles were 
present, and perfect good-will 
appeared within the building. 
To the question, "Will you 
have William, Duke of Nor- 
mandy, for your £ing?" both 
parties answered Yes, with 
loud acclamations. But the 



Norman soldiers without, fancying that the noise meant vio- 
lence against their Duke, attacked the crowd which a not 
unkindly curiosity had collected about the doors, and even 
set fire to houses in the neighborhood. The new King, after 
hastily receiving his crown from the Archbishop, succeeded 
in quieting the tumult; but not until a bitter sense of per- 
sonal wrong had been added to the national despair of the 
English, 

(57) 



58 FEUDAL ENGLAND. [A. D. 1066. 

g7 # William loved justice, and tried to reconcile the people 
to his rule by enforcing the laws impartially on rich and poor, 
English and foreigners alike. He attempted to learn English, 
that he might the better understand and govern his new 
subjects. Though he placed his Normans in all civil and 
military commands, and divided among them the estates of 
those who had fallen at Stamford Bridge and Senlac, he at 
first left all other proprietors in possession of their lands. 
He built strong castles to overawe London, Winchester, and 
other cities ; but he took care to confirm all the commercial 
and other privileges which those cities had enjoyed. By thus 
covering the hand of steel with the glove of velvet, he so far 
smoothed away opposition that he thought it safe to revisit 
Normandy, taking with him many English earls to swell his 
royal train, and display the wealth of the conquered country, 
while they served as hostages for the good behavior of their 
countrymen. 

98. His absence was a disaster to England, for his officers 
were neither so just nor so wise as their chief; and their vio- 
lence and greed aroused hatreds between the races, which 
required centuries to appease. Only half of England was 
yet conquered. The men of the Danelagh scorned submis- 
sion to the Norman Duke, and offered their homage to 
Sweyn, King of Denmark, who, in A. D. 1069, entered the 
H umber with a great fleet and army, and laid siege to York. 
It was taken, and the Norman garrison of 3,000 men was put 
to the sword. 

99. Multitudes of the English, who had hitherto smothered 
their discontent, took courage to throw off the Norman rule, 
and the kingdom was every-where ripe for revolt. But Wil- 
liam now acted with extreme and effectual severity. To guard 
against future inroads of either Scots or Danes, he laid waste 
the whole fertile tract between the Humber and the Tees, 
and one hundred thousand persons are supposed to have 
perished with hunger and cold. Many of the Danes and 



A. D. 1074.I REVOLT OF THE XORMAXS. 59 



Saxons took to the woods as robbers and outlaws; others 
repaired to Constantinople and enlisted in the guards of the 
Emperor of the East. A large party of nobles was hospitably 
received by Malcolm Canmore, King of Scotland, — among 
them Edgar the Atheling with his two sisters, one of whom 
became the wife of the Scottish King. 

100. The greater part of the English lands were now di- 
vided among William's knights, and all the high places in 
church and state were bestowed upon foreigners. Among 
these, the worthiest was Lanfranc, a Pavian monk, whose 
piety and learning had already wrought a great reformation 
in the Norman monasteries, and who was now made Primate 
of England. 

The last Englishman who retained any power or impor- 
tance was Waltheof, Siward's son (§ 76). who, having been 
received into the Conqueror's favor, had married the Lady 
Judith, his niece, and had been presented with three rich 
earldoms. Now it so chanced that the high-spirited Norman 
barons, who always resented the imperious temper of their 
Duke, had become still more restive upon his elevation to 
royal rank; and at a wedding party, when the wine was 
freely flowing, an actual revolt was. proposed. Waltheof 
assented with the rest ; but morning brought cooler judg- 
ment, and he revealed the plot to his wife. If Judith had 
been faithful, all might yet have gone well ; but she hated 
her husband, and availed herself of this means to ruin him. 

101. The King was then in Normandy, where he received 
a letter from Lady Judith informing him of the conspiracy, 
and aggravating Waltheof 's guilt. Waltheof himself hastened 
to Normandy, in order to detail the whole affair to the King. 
Rut William's mind was poisoned; and departing from his 
usual justice, he nursed his wrath until a day of retribution. 
Before his return to England the revolt was suppressed by 
his officers, with the aid of the English themselves; but the 
punishment of the offenders was reserved for the King, and 



60 FEUDAL ENGLAND. [A. D. 1O75. 

was executed with uncommon severity. Some were deprived 
of their eyes, some immured in dungeons ; but Waltheof, the 
least guilty, suffered the heaviest penalty : he was condemned 
and beheaded as a traitor. His wife gained nothing by her 
crime; for she soon fell under the King's displeasure, and 
passed her life in shame and remorse, the object of universal 
contempt. 

102. Waltheof 's tomb was visited as the shrine of a martyr. 
The English believed that William's good fortune deserted 
him on the day when Waltheof died. " His bow was broken, 
his sword blunted," and peace departed from him. The 
Conqueror's last years were, indeed, visited by the heaviest 
sorrows. His eldest son, Robert, was a turbulent and mis- 
governed youth, who wished to enter upon his continental 
dominions even during his father's life-time. A party of tur- 
bulent young courtiers attached themselves to the Prince, and 
the quarrel came to open war. The King of France, always 
jealous of the Duke's greatness, gave Robert for his head- 
quarters a fortress on his father's frontier, whence he and his 
wild companions sallied forth to ravage Normandy. 

103. William besieged the castle, and in a fight beneath 
its walls, father and % son, both concealed by their helmets, 
met in deadly combat. William received a wound, and his 
cry for aid first revealed to his son the person of his oppo- 
nent. Struck with remorse and terror, Robert fell on his 
knees and begged his father's pardon. By the intervention 
of the barons, and especially of Matilda, the noble wife of 
the Conqueror, peace was for a time restored. Robert, vis- 
iting England for the first time, was intrusted with the com- 
mand of an expedition into Scotland. 

104. The Scotch and the Welsh were pacified, but William 
had a nearer foe to meet in his half-brother, Odo, whom he 
had intrusted with the government of England in his absence. 
Odo, though a bishop, had desired to be a king ; but this 
ambition was exchanged for a still higher one. The reigning 



A. D. 1087.] DOMESDAY-BOOK. 61 

Pope, Hildebrand, had offended all princes by his claims of 
supremacy. Odo used his brother's treasures to buy votes 
in Rome, and bribed his brother's soldiers to enter his serv- 
ice, with a view to transporting an army to Italy and seizing 
the papal throne by force. William arrived from Normandy 
just in time to check this bold enterprise. He arrested 
Bishop Odo with his own hands, and sent him to a prison 
cell in the castle of Rouen. Good Queen Matilda, worn, out 
with cares and sorrows, died soon afterward, and the Con- 
queror was scarcely ever seen to smile again. 

105. His enemies were many. King Knut of Denmark 
prepared a great armada, with the secret encouragement of 
the men of north-eastern England, hoping to regain his grand- 
father's island dominions. The fleet was "glued to the coast" 
by head-winds, raised, as the superstitious believed, by the 
spells of wierd women ; but the only magic in the case was 
wrought by English gold, artfully distributed by King Wil- 
liam's agents among the Danish chiefs. 

106. In order to distribute evenly the charges of his enor- 
mous preparations for defense, William resorted to the most 
celebrated act of his reign. Commissioners were appointed 
in every town and city in England, except London and the 
four northern counties, to make an exact registration of all 
land and capital. Their reports were arranged and copied 
on vellum into the two great volumes of the Domesday-Book, 
in which Englishmen may yet see the possessions of their an- 
cestors accurately described. 

107. Prince Robert was again in rebellion, and it was 
probably by his influence that the men of Mantes declared 
war against King William, and plundered his neighboring 
dominions. In revenge, the Norman soldiers set fire to 
Mantes; and their King, though now aged and heavy with 
infirmity, rode to see the ruin. His horse stumbled upon a 
burning brand, and the King received a mortal injury. Con- 
scious of his approaching end, he divided his dominions 



62 FEUDAL ENGLAND. 

among his sons. Robert was to have Normandy, the ancient 
and most honorable possession of his house ; William, sur- 
named Rufus, was to be King of England ; Henry had no 
lands, but he received a great treasure in silver. 

108. William and Henry only awaited the announcement of 
their inheritance, then hurried away to secure it, leaving their 
dying father in the care of hirelings. No sooner was the 
King's breath departed than his attendants rushed to horse, 
eager to secure their own interests under the new reign. 
The lowest servants purloined every article within reach, 
and fled, leaving their master unattended on the floor. The 
obsequies of the King and Conqueror were cared for by a 
poor knight named Herlouin, who as sole mourner attended 
the body to Caen, there to be interred in a magnificent abbey 
which William himself had built. As if peace were denied 
the unhappy Conqueror even in death, Caen was at that 
moment a prey to a conflagration, which destroyed a great 
portion of the city and dispersed the funeral train, leaving 
only a few monks about the corpse. 

109. At the moment when " Ashes to ashes, dust to dust" 
was about to be chanted, a voice rang through the abbey 
forbidding the burial, for the reason that the ground where 
the grave was dug had been unjustly taken from its rightful 
owner, the father of the complainant. The funeral rites were 
suspended, while witnesses were examined and money counted 
to pay the debt : then, at last, the mortal body of the Con- 
queror was at rest. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Coronation of William the Conqueror at Westminster; he begins 
his reign with clemency. Revolts in his absence from England. Dev- 
astation of Yorkshire, and distribution of lands and revenues among 
his Norman followers. Primacy of Lanfranc. Fall of Waltheof; 
troubles of William's later years. Rebellion of his sons. Menaces 
of the Danish King. Domesday-Book. William's death and burial. 

Read: Freeman's Norman Conquest, Vol. iv. 



II. LATER NORMAN KINGS. 



ILLIAM II. (A. D. 1087-1100), arriv- 
ing in England, seized the royal treas- 
ury and several fortresses before he 
made known his father's death. The 
Primate, Lanfranc, then made haste to 
crown him, before opposition could be 
made. The new King was a selfish 
tyrant, unrestrained by religion or law 
t from using his great talents solely for 
the pursuit of pleasure and power. 
Lanfranc' s death, in A. D. 1089, was 
an occasion of bitter sorrow to the 
English. Though foreign both to Nor- 
mandy and England, he was the friend, 
advocate, and protector of the common 
people, — a noble office which became 
inseparable from the primacy in the 
Church. 

in. Rufus hated the Church as a 
robber hates the judge. It was the 
only power that could rebuke and in 
some degree restrain his evil passions. 
For this reason he kept the great bishoprics vacant as long 
as possible, or sold them to the most unworthy persons; 
and when they were filled, he burdened them with enormous 
taxes. Upon Lanfranc's death, the King kept for his own 
use the great revenues of the see of Canterbury ; but after 
some years a severe illness awakened his conscience, and he 
called Anselm, a man of great excellence of character, to fill 
the vacant place. When William got well he resumed his 

(63) 




4^ 

Death of William II. 



64 FEUDAL ENGLAND. [A. D. 1096. 

old crimes, but he found in Anselm a firm and able oppo- 
nent. Then followed a long and angry contest between the 
King and the Primate ; and the latter, quitting England, took 
refuge with the Pope. 

112. Several years were spent in wars between William 
and his two brothers, for the possession of their father's 
whole dominions. Many of the barons had estates both in 
England and Normandy, and it was impossible for them to 
serve two masters so at variance as were William and Robert. 
At this time a strange enthusiasm had seized upon all nations 
and ranks of people in Europe. Palestine had been con- 
quered by the Turks, who ill-treated Christian pilgrims to 
the holy places; and at the appeal of the sufferers, all 
Christendom sprang to arms, eager to wrest the sepulcher 
of Christ from the hands of the unbelievers. Knights who 
had not the means to equip their followers, sold or mort- 
gaged their lands for ready money ; and people of cooler 
blood, who staid at home, often grew rich by these invest- 
ments. 

113. Robert of Normandy was among the leaders in the 
first Crusade. To obtain the needful funds, he pledged his 

entire dominions to his brother William for 10,000 

A. D. 1096. 

marks. William was not troubled by either zeal 
or scruples in matters of religion. He extorted the money 
from all classes of his subjects, even forcing the churches to 
melt their gold and silver plate to furnish their quota; and 
then hastened to seize the mortgaged provinces, hoping that 
death or poverty would keep Robert from ever reclaiming 
them. 

114. Among the worst acts of the Conqueror had been the 
turning of large tracts of land into hunting-grounds. "He 
loved the tall deer as if he were their father," says an old 
rhyme ; and, in fact, the killing of the King's game was more 
heavily punished than the murder of a man. In forming the 
New Forest in Hampshire, sixty villages were burnt. Under 



A. D. iioi.] HENRY BEAUCLERC. 65 

William Rufus, one-third of all the lands in England were 
"King's Forests." In these tracts no law existed excepting 
the King's own will, — a sufficient reason for their being fa- 
vorite resorts of the godless King and his reckless followers. 
William II. was killed, by the arrow either of 
a hunter or an assassin, while hunting in the 
New Forest, — the third of his family who met violent deaths 
within the same inclosure ; and the poor people whose homes 
had been destroyed for this cruel sport, exclaimed that his 
fate was a proof of the righteous judgments of Heaven. 

115. Henrv (A. D. 1100-1135), the youngest son of the 
Conqueror, was hunting in the same forest when he heard 
of his brother's death. He instantly put spurs to his horse 
and hastened to secure the royal treasury at Winchester ; 
then galloping on to London, was saluted as King by the 
bishops and nobles, and crowned in Westminster Abbey, 
three days from the death of Rufus. Henry, who had been 
born and educated in England, spoke its language well. 
and was a great favorite with the people. His writs and 
charters were issued in English, instead of Latin. He sol- 
emnly swore to observe the - laws of Edward the Confessor, 
and he granted to London its first municipal charter. His 
learning, unusual in that age, gained him the surname of 
Beauclerc, or the Fine Scholar. He pleased the people most 
of all by marrying Matilda, the Scottish princess, who was 
great-granddaughter of Edmund Ironsides (§§ 65, 66, 99), 
so that in her descendants the ancient line of Cerdic and of 
Woden was held to be restored. (See Table p. 56.) 

116. Duke Robert, returning from the Holy Land, took 
undisputed possession of Normandy, and then proceeded 
with his army of crusaders to enforce his claims to the 
English crown. The two brothers pitched their camps in 
sight of each other; but several days passed, while both 
dreaded to begin the unbrotherly strife. By the good offices 
of Anselm and others, an accommodation was made at length, 

Eng.— 5. 



66 FEUDAL ENGLAND. [A. D. 1106. 

Robert receiving 3,000 marks a year in exchange for his 
claims ; but the treaty was kept only four years. Finding 
that the Norman barons were dissatisfied with their Duke, 
Henry crossed the Channel with a great army and gained a 
decisive victory over his brother; then receiving 
the homage of all the vassals, he returned to 
England, carrying Robert with him as a prisoner. The 
deposed Duke lived twenty-eight years in close captivity, 
and died, at last, in Cardiff Castle. 

117. His son took refuge with the King of France, whose 
attacks upon Normandy, in the name of the young prince, 
kept King Henry in continual disquiet. The King reaped, 
indeed, little joy and much sorrow from his ambitious and 
unjust schemes. In n 20, having concluded a peace with 
the French sovereign, he was sailing gayly from Barfleur, in 
company with his only and idolized son, William, who had 
just received the homage of the Norman barons as heir of all 
his father's dominions. Some accident delayed the sailing of 
the prince's vessel, and its sailors spent the time in a carouse. 
When at last it got to sea, the drunken pilot ran the ship 
upon a rock, and all on board were drowned. When news 
of the terrible disaster reached King Henry, he fainted away 
and never smiled again. 

118. His only child was now Matilda, wife of the Emperor 
Henry V. In that turbulent age, sovereignty demanded mil- 
itary power and activity for its support ; and neither Normans 
nor Saxons had ever tried the hazardous experiment of placing 
the crown on a woman's head. Nevertheless, Henry deter- 
mined that, for want of a son, his daughter should succeed 
him. After the Emperor's death, Matilda was married to 
Geoffrey, Count of Anjou;* and on the occasion of her 



* Count Geoffrey was wont to wear in his cap a sprig of goicsta, 
the common broom of Anjou ; whence he acquired the nickname of 
" Plantagenet," which was borne by all his royal descendants. 



A. D. 1 138.] MATILDA AXD STEPHEN. 67 

second marriage, all the great nobles, both of Normandy 
and England, did homage to her as their liege lady. Their 
oaths of fealty were repeated after the birth of her son 
Henry; and, two years later, King Henry died, bequeathing 
all his dominions to Matilda. 

119. Now, there was a grandson of the Conqueror (by his 
daughter Adela, Countess of Blois) who felt his claims in- 
fringed by this novel assertion of a woman's rights. Stephen 
of Blois, and his brother Henry, had been invited to England 
by Matilda's father, and had been loaded by him with honors 
and estates. In return, they professed great gratitude and 
affection for King Henry, and desire for the accession of his 
daughter to the throne. But no sooner was Henry dead, 
than Count Stephen hastened to London, and by false state- 
ments induced the Primate to crown and anoint him as king. 
Great reverence was felt for the religious rite of kingly con- 
secration ; and its effect was increased by a bull which 
Stephen obtained from the Pope, confirming his title. Nor- 
mandy followed the example of England, and acknowledged 
Stephen (A. D. 1135-1154) as its sovereign. 

120. Foreseeing troubled times, not only the barons but 
the clergy now fortified their dwellings; and the land began 
to bristle all over with castles which were strongholds of 
feudal violence and oppression. Bands of robbers, rushing 
forth by night or day from these castles, despoiled harvest- 
fields, villages, and even cities; tortured their captives to 
make them confess where treasures were concealed, and 
even sold them into slavery beyond seas. Tillage ceased, 
and a terrible famine seemed like a scourge of God upon 
the wicked passions of men. 

121. King David of Scotland invaded the north country, 
to enforce his niece's right to the crown ; but he was defeated 
by Stephen's nobility in a great battle at North Allerton. 
Matilda herself came to claim her kingdom, and was joined 
by many barons who had become restive under the iron hand 



68 FEUDAL ENGLAND. [A. D. 1141. 

of Stephen. Her chief supporter was Robert, Earl of Glou- 
cester, her half-brother. Henry, Bishop of Winchester, the 
Pope's legate and brother of King Stephen (§ 119), also for 
a time embraced her cause, being offended in a violent quar- 
rel between his brother and the clergy. In a battle near 
Lincoln, Stephen was captured, and sent as a prisoner to 
Gloucester Castle. 

122. Matilda was then solemnly acknowledged as queen 
by an assembly of the clergy, and her authority seemed on 
the point of being established over the whole kingdom. But 
her haughty temper cost her a crown. She peremptorily 
refused the three conditions proposed by her friends : the 
restoration of King Edward's laws ; the confirmation of 
Eustace, son of Stephen, in his father's inherited estates; 
and the release of Stephen himself from imprisonment, on 
his promise to resign all claim to the crown, and to enter a 
monastery. 

The Pope's legate, offended by her rejection of his advice, 
took up arms against her; and Robert of Gloucester, her 
brother and chief defender, was soon afterward taken in 
battle. Matilda was compelled to exchange King Stephen 
for him, and the flames of civil war raged for some years 
more fiercely than ever. At length, the Queen retired into 
Normandy ; and about the same time, her brother died. 

123. The condition of affairs changed as Prince Henry, 
Matilda's son, grew up to manhood. He spent some years 
in Scotland, whence he made incursions into England ; and 
by his ability in war, revived the confidence of his party. 
At the age of seventeen, he was made Duke of Normandy 
by his mother's consent; and soon after, upon the death of 
his father, he became Count of Maine and Anjou. His 

fortunes were increased by marriage with a great 
heiress, Eleanor of Aquitaine, the discarded wife 

of the French King, Louis VII. Henry thus possessed the 

entire western coast of France. 



A. D. 1 154.] DEATH OF STEPHEN. 69 

His promotion in rank and wealth led the barons in Eng- 
land to invite him thither, and in 11 53 he crossed the Chan- 
nel with an army. A great battle was averted by mediation. 
Stephen and Henry spoke with each other from opposite 
sides of the Thames, and agreed that the former should 
possess the crown during his life, while the latter was ac- 
knowledged as its next inheritor. The Duke of Normandy 
then departed from England ; and Stephen's death, which 
occurred the following year, made way for Henry's peace- 
able accession to the throne. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Death of Lanfranc. William Rufus robs the Church; oppresses 
his people ; quarrels with Anselm ; makes war with his brothers ; ob- 
tains mortgage of Normandy; reserves one-third of England for his 
hunting-grounds; is killed while hunting in the New Forest. 

Henry Beauclerc marries a Saxon wife ; writes and speaks English. 
Defeats and imprisons his brother ; loses his only son ; bequeaths his 
kingdom to his daughter. 

Stephen of Blois obtains the crown with the Pope's blessing. 
England is infested by robber-castles. Matilda invades the kingdom. 
Stephen in prison. Matilda rejects the terms of settlement; is de- 
feated and exiled. Her son Henry marries the Duchess of Aquitaine ; 
is acknowledged as Stephen's heir. 

Read : Freeman's Norman Conquest, Vol. v, and Life of William 
Rufus ; Life of Anselm, by Dean Church. 



Norman Line. 



William I , the Conqueror. 

I 



l I l I 

Robert, D. of William II. Henry I. m. Adela m 

Normandy, Matilda of Count of Blois. 

d. 1134. \ 116. Scotland. § 118. I 



I Stephen. 



I I 

William Matilda m. 2. 

d. 1120. \ 117. Count of Anjou. 



I 
Henry II. § 118. (See p. 82.) 



III. THE FIRST OF PLANTAGENETS. 




Henry II. at the Tomb 
of Becket. 



ENRY II. (A. D. 1 1 54-1 1 89) began his 

reign with energy. He demolished die 

new fortresses which had been robbers' 

nests in Stephen's reign, dismissed the 

hired soldiery, and restored the coin to 

its standard purity. Henry was equally descended from the 

Norman and the Saxon kings; and he was the first of the 

Plantagenet line, which ruled England 331 years. (§ 115.) 

125. The old struggle between king and clergy, which we 
have remarked in the days of Edwy and Dunstan, Rufus and 
Anselm, was now renewed with increased violence. Thomas 
Becket, the son of a London merchant, was the first Eng- 
lishman since Waltheof who had risen to great power in the 
realm. He had improved his fine talents by studying law at 
Bologna; and after his return he was loaded by King Henry 
(70) 



A. D. 1 164.] THOMAS OF CANTERBURY. 71 

with offices, revenues, and honors. He became Lord Chan- 
cellor ; he was followed by an army of knights ; great nobles 
and even the King often accepted his hospitality, and sought 
his aid in the education of their sons. Having proved the 
Chancellor's abilities in the most familiar intercourse, King 
Henry thought he was securing a useful instrument for his 
war upon the Church, when he appointed Becket to be 
Archbishop of Canterbury. 

126. But with his promotion, Becket's character seemed 
to undergo a sudden and complete change. He withdrew 
from court; he exchanged his costly banquets for a scanty 
fare of bread and water; he tore his flesh with the scourge; 
and every day washed the feet of thirteen beggars, in imita- 
tion of his Master's humility. All this was, in effect, to de- 
clare war against the King. The main point of opposition 
was in the claim of the Church to judge all crimes committed 
by persons in her employ, independently of the secular courts. 
This was of vital importance ; for during the first ten years 
of King Henry's reign, at least one hundred murders were 
committed by priests. Soon after Becket's consecration, a 
clerk committed a shameful crime, and attempted to conceal 
it by murder. The King commanded the offender to be 
given up to justice. Becket kept him in the bishop's prison, 
and insisted that he could only be punished by deprivation 
of his office. 

127. Henry summoned a great council of bishops and 
nobles, with whose consent an important charter, called, 
from their place of assembly, the "Constitutions 

1 ■ . J A. D. 1164. 

of Clarendon," was given to the people. It re- 
quired even clerical criminals to be judged by the civil laws. 
Becket, after violent resistance, swore to support the Con- 
stitutions ; but when the Pope published a bull annulling the 
instrument, Becket expressed great sorrow and contrition for 
his former compliance, and tried to combine all the bishops 
in a league against the King. 



72 FEUDAL ENGLAND. [A. D. 1164. 

128. Open hostilities were prevented by Becket's secret 
flight from the kingdom. King Louis of France, having 
many causes of jealousy against the King of England, gladly 
received the Primate with all the honors due to a saint and 
a martyr. During his absence, the King's eldest son was 
crowned as associate monarch by the Archbishop of York. 
Becket obtained from the Pope a sentence deposing the 
northern metropolitan, and excommunicating all the bishops 
who had taken part in the service. King Henry being now 
in Normandy, Becket passed over into England, and was 
received with shouts of welcome. The common people, as 
well as the clergy, regarded him as their champion against 
kingly oppressions. 

129. When King Henry heard of Becket's triumphal en- 
trance into Rochester and South wark, he exclaimed, "Is 
there none of all my servants who will rid me of this pesti- 
lent priest?" Four gentlemen of his household chose to 
understand these words as intimating a desire for Becket's 

death ; and, hastening to England, they murdered 
the Archbishop within his own cathedral at Can- 
terbury. The King solemnly declared himself innocent of 
the crime, and the Pope consented to be appeased. But the 
tomb of the Primate was revered as the shrine of a martyr. 
In one year 100,000 pilgrims flocked thither from all parts 
of Christendom ; and miracles were reputed to be wrought 
by the holy relics. 

130. Henry profited by the interval of peace to complete 
the conquest of Ireland, for which he had long ago obtained 
permission from the Pope. It was, indeed, already accom- 
plished, chiefly by Richard de Clare, more commonly called 
"Strongbow," afterward Earl of Pembroke, who, by taking 
advantage of feuds among the five Irish kings, and by mar- 
riage with the heiress of one of them, had obtained control 
of the whole island. King Henry had only to receive the 
homage of his new subjects. He confirmed most of the Irish 



A. D. 1 174.] THE KING'S PENITENCE. 73 



chiefs in possession of their ancient estates, on condition of 
feudal homage ; and appointing Strongbow as his seneschal, 
or Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, returned to England to receive 
the congratulations of his subjects, and the Pope's confirma- 
tion of his new sovereignty. 

131. The tendency to family quarrels which disgraced the 
Norman line, seems to have descended, with its other inher- 
itances, to the Plantagenets. Henry's four sons were aided 
and abetted by their mother, Queen Eleanor, and by her 
former husband, the King of France, in rebellion against 
their father. War broke out in his French dominions; and, 
at the same time, his English kingdom was invaded by the 
Scots from the north and the Flemings from the east. 

These calamities pricked the sluggish conscience of the 
King, and he resolved to make peace with the murdered 
Becket. Crossing from Normandy on a penitential pilgrim- 
age, he dismounted as soon as he came within sight of Can- 
terbury Cathedral, and walked with bare head and feet to die 
holy shrine. Here he fasted and prayed all day and all night; 
and causing the whole brotherhood of monks to be assembled, 
presented each with a scourge, and begged them to apply the 
lashes severely to his naked shoulders, ' ' for the good of his 
soul." The next dav he received absolution for 

A. D. 1174. 

all his crimes and errors ; and soon afterward 
learned that on that very day his army had gained a decisive 
victory over the Scots, whose king it had captured. The 
superstition of the time could not fail to accept the happy 
omen as proof of St. Thomas's forgiveness and the favor of 
Heaven. The King of France also made peace ; the English 
princes returned to their obedience ; and the King of Scot- 
land, with all his nobles and bishops, did homage to Henry, 
acknowledging the suzerainty of the house of Plantagenet 
over himself and his descendants. 

132. King Henry's domestic peace was not of long dura- 
tion. He had destined Ireland for his favorite and youngest 



74 FEUDAL ENGLAND. [A. D. 1189. 

son, John; but that prince proved his wretched unfitness for 
governing, by driving the Irish chiefs into rebellion, and the 
King was compelled to recall him. Prince Henry died in 
France, in the midst of his rebellion; and Richard, now 
heir to the throne, was scarcely relieved of a war with his 
brother Geoffrey, by the latter' s death, when he, too, took 
up arms against his father. 

Humiliated and enfeebled by this unnatural conflict, Henry 
at last consented to all the demands of his enemies. Among 
these was a free pardon to the barons who had taken part in 
Richard's rebellion. When their names were presented for 
his examination, the unhappy King found, with grief and 
amazement, that John's name was at the head of the list. 
This last stroke of ingratitude broke his heart; and after a 
few weeks' illness he died of fever, in the fifty-eighth year of 
his age, and the thirty-fourth of his reign. 

133. Henry was the greatest hereditary monarch of his 
time, both for personal ability and for the extent of his do- 
minions. In the intervals of war, he made many improve- 
ments in the administration of his kingdom, among which 
the greatest was the appointment of traveling judges, who 
made circuits through the country, trying all causes which 
were brought before them. In this way, the subject was 
spared the great expense of a journey to the capital, and 
justice was made easily accessible to all the people. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Plantagenet Line begins with Henry II., who restores order in 
England. Is the friend and patron, but afterward the resolute oppo- 
nent of Becket. "Constitutions of Clarendon " restrict the power of 
the Church. Becket is protected by the King of France. Returning 
to England, is murdered by King Henry's servants in his own church 
at Canterbury. Conquest of Ireland. Rebellion of King Henry's 
sons. His penitence at the tomb of "St. Thomas." Capture of King 
of Scots, who becomes Henry's vassal. Prince John's misconduct in 
Ireland; joins his brothers in rebellion. King Henry's death. 



IV. KING RICHARD AND KING JOHN. 



ffKHE story of Richard I. (A. D. 1189- 
1 1 99) scarcely belongs to the history 
of England ; for of the ten years of his 
reign, less than one was spent in the 
kingdom whose crown he wore. Rich- 
ard was a Frenchman, — a valiant cru- 
sader, a brilliant poet, and a gallant 
hero of romance ; but he was not an 
honest man nor a faithful king. His 
most famous acts were connected with 
the Third Crusade, of which he was 
the principal hero. His hatred of un- 
believers—a very Christian sentiment, 
according to the notions of those days 
— produced sad consequences on the 
day of his coronation. 

135. The London Jews, who were 
many and rich, offered gifts of gold to 
celebrate the occasion. But the King 
had forbidden them to approach the 
banqueting hall ; their messengers were 
chased away; and suddenly a rumor 
spread that the King had ordered a 
general massacre of all the Hebrews. The mob broke into 
their houses, killed the owners, and seized their hidden treas- 
ures. The horrid frenzy spread to other cities of England. 
In York, 500 Jews, hoping for neither justice nor mercy, 
first killed "their wives and children, and then set fire to the 
castle in which they had taken refuge, and perished in the 

flames. 

(75) 




Pope's Legate Spurning 
Crown. 



76 FEUDAL ENGLAND. [A. D. 1190. 

136. To raise money for his crusade, Richard sold lands, 
offices, and dignities belonging to the crown, and even re- 
leased the King of Scotland from his allegiance, restoring the 
fortresses of Berwick and Roxburgh, King Henry's proudest 
acquisitions. Then committing his kingdom to the care of 
the bishops of Durham and Ely, he departed for the holy 
war. The kings of France and England met at Vezelay, and 
found that their united armies numbered 100,000 men. They 
sailed from different ports in the Mediterranean, but storms 
compelled both to spend the winter in Sicily, where their 
ardent friendship was turned into rivalry and hatred. 

Richard was joined at Messina by the Princess Berengaria 
of Navarre, to whom he was already betrothed. As the 
marriage could not take place in Lent, she sailed in company 
with his sister for the Holy Land. Again overtaken by 
storms, the vessel was driven into a port in Cyprus, where 
the ladies were treated with great rudeness, and the crews 
of two attendant vessels were murdered before their eyes. 
When Richard was informed of the insult, he landed in 
Cyprus, defeated Isaac, its king, in two battles, took him 
prisoner and loaded him with chains, assuming for himself 
the sovereignty of the island. His marriage completed the 
rejoicings for the victory. 

137. Arriving in Palestine, the two kings found all the 
Christian forces engaged in a siege of the important seaport 
of Acre, which had withstood them two years. The fresh 
courage inspired by their powerful reinforcements, secured 
the surrender of the city. But Philip, now disgusted with 
Richard's superior fame, soon returned home, having first 
taken a solemn oath not to meddle with the English or Nor- 
man dominions. Richard, fighting every step of the way, 
advanced one hundred miles from Acre to Ascalon, which 
he captured. His proposed attack upon Jerusalem was pre- 
vented by dissensions among his allies. He therefore made a 
truce with Saladin, Sultan of Egypt, securing several Medi- 



A. D. ngg.] CAPTIVITY OF RICHARD. 77 

terranean ports, with perfect freedom of pilgrimage to the 
Christians; and upon receiving important news from Eng- 
land, set out for home. 

138. His brother John had seized the regency, and, in 
concert with King Philip, was attempting to deprive Richard 
of all his dominions. The King, after various adventures 
and perils, landed at a port in the Adriatic, whence he tried 
to make his journey through Europe in the disguise of a 
merchant. He was recognized at Vienna by his 

& 3 A. D. 1192. 

bitterest enemy, the Duke of Austria, and was 
thrown into a dungeon. His foes all hastened to profit by 
his misfortunes : Philip invaded Normandy, and John de- 
manded the crown of England. Both sent messengers to 
the Emperor, offering him a great sum of money to keep 
Richard in perpetual captivity. 

139. Queen Eleanor, meanwhile, besought the Pope to 
interfere for her son's release ; setting forth the shame to all 
Christendom of allowing its champion, whose strong right 
arm had struck down so many enemies of the cross, to lan- 
guish in fetters. Richard was summoned before the Diet of 
the Western Empire to plead his own cause. His eloquence 
and the unexampled fame of his great exploits, moved the 
hearts of the princes and prelates; and it was agreed to 
accept a ransom of 150,000 marks, — equal, probably, to 
^2,500,000 of English money now, or twelve and a half 
millions of dollars. All classes of the English were pinched 
to raise this sum; and many might have questioned whether 
their King was worth so much. But they remembered the 
pitiless extortions of John, and received Richard with joy. 

140. The remainder of Richard's reign affords little worth 
telling. He forgave his treacherous brother, and expelled 
Philip from the dominions he had overrun in western France. 
He was killed in a petty quarrel with one of his own French 
vussals, April, 1199. 



78 FEUDAL ENGLAND. [A. D. 1199. 

141. John was crowned at Westminster, the following 
month. Arthur of Brittany, son of his elder brother Geof- 
frey, claimed the French provinces, and King 
Philip espoused his cause. Arthur at last be- 
came the prisoner of his wicked and cruel uncle, by whose 
own hands, there is great reason to believe, the young prince 
was murdered. If John expected to make his dominion se- 
cure by this foul deed, he was as short-sighted as criminals 
usually are. Philip, as his feudal superior, summoned him 
to answer for his crime; and, as John did not appear, pro- 
ceeded, with the concurrence of the "Peers of France," to 
deprive him of all his fiefs and lordships in that country. 
The universal horror of his crime wrought powerfully against 
him; castle after castle — Anjou, Maine, Touraine, Poitou, 
ultimately Normandy and even Aquitaine, except its southern 
part, known as the Duchy of Guienne — fell into Philip's 
hands. 

142. A contest with the Pope, concerning the primacy of 
England, completed John's disasters. Innocent III. was, 
perhaps, the most able and ambitious of all the popes. John 
had elevated one of his favorites to the vacant see of Canter- 
bury ; but the Pope annulled the appointment, and compelled 
the monks to choose Stephen Langton. Langton was a good 
man, but the Pope's act was, nevertheless, a violation of Eng- 
lish usage in church and state. John expelled the monks, 
and took possession of their lands and money. Innocent 

replied by laying the kingdom under an inter- 
dict. * The next year, he excommunicated 
the King; and, three years later, absolved all his subjects 
from their oaths of allegiance. A crusade was declared 



* An interdict suspended religious services in the country against 
which it was declared. No public prayers were permitted ; church- 
bells were silent; the dead were buried in unsanctified ground; and 
marriages were celebrated in the churchyard with little ceremony. 
Excommunication was personal, depriving its victim of all Christian 
rights, and even of common services from others. 



A. D. 1215.] THE GREAT CHARTER. 79 

against England; and Philip Augustus willingly undertook 
to enforce the Pope's decree. But if the English hated John, 
they did not love Philip. Mustering a great fleet, the Earl 
of Salisbury crossed the Channel and attacked the French at 
the mouth of the Seine. His victorious armies then ravaged 
the Norman coast, and the danger of a French invasion was 
for the time at an end. 

143. Finding no encouragement in his resistance, John 
yielded to all the Pope's commands. He restored the monks 
and nuns to their possessions; he recognized Langton as 
primate; he even laid his crown at the feet of Pandolf, the 
legate, and promised to hold England and Ireland only as a 
vassal of Pope Innocent and his successors, confirming his 
obedience by a yearly payment of a thousand marks. 

This degradation of the kingdom enraged the barons, who 
were already indignant at John's disregard of their rights. 
Langton was a true Englishman, and faithful to his high 
office as advocate of the people. He called a council ot 
barons and bishops, to whom he showed a lately found copy 
of the Charter of Henry I. (§ 115), and urged them to insist 
upon its renewal and enforcement. The barons mustered 
their forces, and proceeded to make war upon the King. 
John, deserted by all his retainers, excepting seven knights, 
was compelled to grant all that his great vassals demanded. 

144. At Runnimede, on the Thames, the two parties met 
in conference; and the result of the meeting was the King's 
signing of Magna Charta, the foundation of 

. . Ju ne > I2I 5- 

English constitutional liberty. Clergy, barons, 
and people were alike secured in their rights of person and 
property. Taxes were not to be Jevied without the consent 
of the Great Council. No person should be seized or im- 
prisoned, or outlawed or exiled, or in any way brought to 
ruin . . . save by lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law 
of the land. "We will sell to no man, we will not deny or 
delay to any man, justice or right." The poor man, even if 



8o 



FEUDAL ENGLAND. 




Extracts from Magna Charta. 

convicted of crime, could not be deprived of his tenement, 
the merchant of his goods, or the peasant of his wagon. 
Twenty-four barons were charged with enforcing upon the 



A. D. i2i6.] DEATH OF JOHN. %\ 



King the, fulfillment of his solemn oath. "They have given 
me four and twenty over-kings!" cried John, in a rage, as 
he threw himself on the floor, and gnawed like a wild beast 
at whatever came within his reach. 

145. But he had promised the more readily because he 
did not intend to perform. His agents were already enlisting 
troops on the Continent ; and a special envoy now laid before 
the Pope a copy of the Great Charter, which, John main- 
tained, had been wrested from him by violence. Innocent 
III., regarding himself as the real sovereign of England, de- 
clared that his rights were invaded. He annulled the Charter, 
and suspended the primacy of Langton for his faithful exer- 
cise of its duties. 

146. ^Strengthened by the Pope's bull, and still more by 
his army of Brabanters, King John broke all his promises ; 
and, marching from south to north, laid waste his kingdom 
with fire and sword. The barons, who seem to have been 
inactive at the most critical moment, now took a desperate 
and unwarrantable step. They offered the crown to Prince 
Louis, son of the French King, who came over in A. I). 
1 2 16, with a large army, took Rochester Castle, and made a 
triumphal entry into London. The battle for which John 
was preparing never took place. Overcome by sickness, 
shame, and vexation, he died at Newark in the eighteenth 
year of his reign. 

147. It is singular that the wickedness of John should have 
been the source of two great benefits to his people. Magna 
Charta has already been mentioned. The loss of the French 
provinces was also a piece of good fortune to England ; for 
her kings, having no foreign dominions, found their motives 
to ambition at home. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Richard I. neglects his kingdom ; permits a persecution of the Jews; 
sells lands, offices, and his over-lordship of Scotland, to raise means 
Eng. — 6. 



FEUDAL ENGLAND. 



for his Crusade ; spends winter in Sicily ; quarrels with King of 
France; conquers Cyprus; gains great advantages for ChristTans in 
the Holy Land; becomes prisoner in Austria on his return; is ran-, 
somed by order of the Emperor and the Diet ; dies in France. 

John obtains the English crown; murders his nephew; loses his. 
French dominions; quarrels with the Pope about the archbishopric 
of Canterbury ; is excommunicated, and his kingdom placed under an 
interdict. Surrenders England to the Pope. Is forced by the barons 
to sign the Great Charter of English liberties. Attempts to evade 
it; hires foreign soldiers and makes war against his own kingdom. 
Louis of France invades the kingdom by invitation of the barons. 
John dies at Newark. 

Translation of Extracts from Magna Charta. 

"John, by the grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland, 
Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, Count of Anjou, — to the Arch- 
bishops, Bishops, Abbots, Counts, Barons, Justiciaries, Foresters, 
Praepostors, Ministers, and to all Bailiffs and his faithful [subjects] 
greeting : 

"No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or disseized or out- 
lawed or exiled or any otherwise destroyed ; nor will we pass upon 
him, nor send upon him, unless by the legal judgment of his peers, 
or by the law of the land. 

"Given by our hand in the meadow which is called Runingmede, 
between Windsor and Stanes, the fifteenth day of June, in the seven- 
teenth year of our reign. 

Read: Stubbs's Early Plantagcnets, and Select Charters; also 
histories of England already cited. 



Descent from Henry II. (See p. 69.) 



Henry II. m. Eleanor of Poitou and Aquitaine. £ 123. 

I 

I II I 

Henry d. 1183. Richard I. Geoffrey, g 141. John. 

I I 



Arthur. | | 

Henry 111. Richard, Earl of 

I Cornwall. § 151. 

Edward I. 

I 
Edward II. \ 174. 

I 
Edward III. (See p. 119.) 



V. REIGN OF HENRY III. 



ENRY III. (A. D. 1216-1272), John's 
son and heir, was only nine years 

1 old. The real power, therefore, 
rested in the hands of the Earl of 
Pembroke, a brave, able, and up- 
right man, who was chosen Pro- 
tector of the Realm. His first act 
was the renewal of Magna Charta, 
which John had violated. He then, 
with a few hundred knights, defeated 
the French forces at Lincoln; and 
Prince Louis, finding the hearts of 
the English now turning to their 
rightful king, left the country never 
to return. 

149. Upon Pembroke's death, the 
chief power passed to Hubert de 
Burgh, a brave and faithful officer, 
^ ' ^^^J&Sifr J* whose defense of Dover Straits and 
Castle had mainly contributed to 

Henry III. at Evesham. , r J . -,-, , • . TT 

defeat the trench invasion. He 
was succeeded in the government of king and kingdom by 
the Bishop of Winchester, a native of Poitou, whose extor- 
tions had occasioned many of the miseries of the reign of 
John. By his advice, the young King invited into England 
a multitude of Poitevins, whom he intrusted with all impor- 
tant positions in the court, and loaded with honors and 
wealth. 

150. Henry married Eleanor of Provence, — a country now 
included in southern France, then noted for wealth, luxury, 

(83) 




84 FEUDAL ENGLAND. [A. D. 1236. 

and the gay and brilliant genius of its people. The young 
Queen was accompanied by a crowd of Provencal courtiers ; 
and the marked indulgence shown them by the King, in- 
creased the displeasure of the English. A greater grievance 
was found in the exactions of the Italian clergy, who drew a 
greater revenue from England than the King himself. The 
Pope claimed the entire income of all vacant livings; one- 
twentieth from those which were occupied; one-third from 
all that exceeded one hundred marks a year; and one-half 
from those which were held by non-residents. 

151. He practiced upon the weakness of King Henry by 
bestowing the crown of Sicily upon his second son, — a gift 
which only involved the King in an enormous debt, as well 
as in ridicule and disgrace. The Sicilian kingdom was an- 
other of the "fiefs of St. Peter" (§§ 85, 143), which the 
Pope assumed the right to give away at his pleasure. The 
King's brother Richard, Earl of Cornwall, also wished to 
play a part in Continental affairs. His great wealth, drawn 
from the tin mines of his earldom, led the German princes 
to choose him for their sovereign ; but as he was never 
crowned at Rome, he gained nothing but the empty title of 
Emperor-elect, or King of the Romans, in exchange for all 
his treasures. 

152. King Henry's extortions, and his slavery to foreign 
favorites, disgusted his brave barons. Several times he was 
made to renew the Great Charter, and to pronounce the 
most direful curses upon whomsoever should dare to infringe 
it : but scarcely had the awful words died away among the 
arches of Westminster Hall, when every promise was broken. 
Chief of the French courtiers was Simon de Montfort, whom 
the King had made Earl of Leicester, and honored with the 
hand of his own sister. But, unlike his countrymen, Earl 
Simon faithfully served the people among whom he dwelt, 
and was rewarded by their enthusiastic love. He was the 
powerful ally of the best English bishop at that time, — ■ 



A. D. 1272.] RISE OF THE PARLIAMENT. 85 

Grossetesre of Lincoln, — in his opposition to the unjust de- 
mands of Rome. 

153. In 1257, a terrible famine visited England. King- 
Richard (§ 151) sent over a supply of corn from Germany 
for the relief of the people ; but King Henry seized and sold 
it for his own advantage. This enraged the barons, who met 
in arms at Oxford, and insisted upon a Council 

AD i-?-8 

of Regency, to be chosen half by the King and 
half by themselves. Parliament was ordered to meet three 
times every year, whether summoned by the King or not ; 
and " twelve honest men " were to represent the commonalty. 
But the barons were soon divided ; many, seeking honors 
and lands, joined the royal party. The more patriotic, with 
all the representatives of the people, stood by Earl Simon, 
who, with a reinforcement of 15,000 Londoners, gained a 
great victory at Lewes, in Sussex. The King and his son 
were prisoners. 

154. The Earl of Leicester, now really at the head of the 
realm, summoned a parliament in the King's name, to be 
composed of two citizens from each borough, and 

two knights from each shire, in addition to the 
bishops and nobles. This was a great event; for it was the 
first meeting of the English Commons according to their 
present constitution. But the people's triumph was soon 
over-clouded by the death of their great leader. Prince 
Edward escaped, and raised an army which defeated the 
patriot forces at Evesham. Earl Simon and his eldest son 
were slain. 

155. No sooner was the civil war at an end than Prince 
Edward, with a gallant array of barons, set sail for the Holy 
Land, to take part in the Eighth Crusade. The name of 
Plantagenet, and traditions of the brave deeds of King 
Richard, drew about him all the Christian forces in the East, 
and several victories were won. On his return, he heard in 
Sicily of his father's death. 



86 FEUDAL ENGLAND. 



156. Across the dark and turbulent age of Henry III., a 
steady light begins to shine from the University of Oxford. 
Schools had existed there even before the time of Alfred the 
Great ; but the spirit of inquiry excited by the Crusades, with 
the new knowledge brought home from the East, had occa- 
sioned a great revival of zeal for the study of law, philosophy, 
and ancient literature. In our day, when knowledge and the 
means of instruction are so widely diffused, we have nothing 
like the great universities of the Middle Ages, where 30,000 
scholars, traveling far over land and sea, were often assembled 
at one time about some famous teacher. 

157. Such a teacher was Roger Bacon, whose wonderful 
mind was stored with all the learning of his age concerning 
the material world, as well as the mind and works of man. 
His lectures at Oxford were thronged by eager listeners, 
many of whom begged their daily bread, while others, like 
their teacher, had spent ample fortunes upon books and 
costly experiments, abandoning all ambition of honor or 
wealth, in search of the dearer prize of wisdom. Bacon was 
the father of English science. His physical researches antic- 
ipated many modern discoveries; among others, the use of 
gunpowder in war. 

158. But Bacon, like Dunstan (§ 55), proved the peril of 
great learning in an ignorant age. Whatever might be the 
admiring reverence of his pupils, the majority of those about 
him saw in his geometrical lines and circles only charms to 
compel the attendance of evil spirits; and heard the language 
of those spirits in the Greek, Hebrew, or Arabic sentences 
which he repeated in his studious hours. He was condemned 

by the council of his own Franciscan Order, 

A. D. 1278-1289. J ' 

and spent the last ten or fifteen years of his 
life in a gloomy dungeon, robbed of his beloved books, and 
deprived even of pens and parchment. 

159. And yet we may find something to admire in the rise 
of the Franciscans and their brethren the Dominicans, — the 



FRANCISCANS AT OXFORD. 87 

"Mendicant Orders," as they were called. Some of the 
monks in their stately abbeys, surrounded by broad lands, 
had grown rich and lazy, neglecting the poor people, for the 
care of whose souls these great endowments had been made. 
To remedy the evil, the "Begging Friars" bound themselves 
to absolute poverty and the service of the poor. They owned 
'nothing; they lived by daily alms, and dwelt in the most 
squalid quarters of the cities, where they warred bravely 
against the diseases which sprang from poverty and unclean- 
liness, acting as physicians and nurses not less than as priests. 
During the civil war of Henry the Third's reign, they were 
the steady friends of the people. Though at first they abjured 
learning, they soon had control of the University of Oxford, 
which became the firm opponent of papal exactions and the 
stronghold of English freedom. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Influence of foreigners during reign of Henry III. His marriage 
with Eleanor of Provence. Immense revenues paid to Rome. Waste 
of English treasure in wars for Sicily and the Empire. " Curse of the 
Charter Breakers." Simon of Leicester becomes champion of the peo- 
ple. By Provisions of Oxford, a Council of Regency assumes control 
of the kingdom. Victory of Leicester at Lewes. First English Par- 
liament assembles. Defeat and death of Earl Simon at Evesham. 
Crusade of Prince Edward. Roger Bacon at Oxford. Rise of the 
Mendicant Orders. 

Read: Green's History of the English People, Book iii, Chaps, i, ii, 
ui ; Pauli's Simon de J/onfort, and London Quarterly Review^ Jan., 
"866 ; Pauli's Pictures of Old England has a chapter on Monks and 
Mendicant Friars. 



VI. REIGN OF EDWARD I. 




'AVING no dominions on the Con- 
tinent except Guienne, his great- 
grandmother's inheritance (§ 123), 
the chief ambition of King Ed- 
ward (A. D. 1 272-1307) was to 
rule the whole island of Great 
Britain. By successive victories 
over their native princes, he 
ended the long struggle with the 
Welsh, whom for eight hundred 
years Saxons and Normans had 
vainly tried to subdue. In a 
conference with their chiefs at 
Rhuddlan, he promised to give 
' -^ J b I tCT^ "sBfJllir them a ruler born in their own 

land, and who could not speak 
a word of either French or Eng- 
lish. But when this redoubtable 
Prince was introduced, he was 
found to be the King's own son, 
who had been born in Rhuddlan Castle only the day before ! 
By the death of his elder brother, little Edward became heir 
to the English crown ; and ever since, the eldest son of the 
sovereign has been called the Prince of Wales. 

161. King Edward's strong hand soon put an end to the 
robberies which had become disgracefully frequent during his 
father's weak reign. But his chief severity fell upon the Jews. 
A common crime, in that disorderly and corrupt time, was 
''clipping the coin " ; and it was convenient to assume that 
the Jews had a principal share in this transaction. In London 

(88) 



Monk and Soldier. 



A. D. 1292.] EDWARD I. IX SCOTLAXD. 89 

alone, 280 of these unfortunate people were hanged. Eight 
years later, all the Jews in England were ordered to be thrown 
into prison, and kept there until they had paid a heavy ran- 
som. At length, for no apparent cause, the whole Hebrew 
population, numbering more than 16,000, were forced to leave 
the kingdom. They were permitted, indeed, to take their 
money and jewels ; but these treasures increased their perils ; 
for very many were murdered by sailors and others in their 
passage over the seas. In those days of bigotry, a crime 
against a Jew was regarded by many as no crime at all. 
The King, however, was more just, and ordered the offenders 
to be hung whenever they could be convicted. 

162. The affairs of Scotland absorbed a large share of Ed- 
ward's attention. His sister had been the wife of the Scotch 
King, Alexander III., who, dying in A. D. 1286, left only 
one descendant, his little granddaughter, Margaret of Norway, 
now three years old. This young lady was acknowledged as 
Queen of Scotland, and was soon afterward betrothed to 
Edward, Prince of Wales. This marriage might have pre- 
vented three centuries of bitter strife between the two king- 
doms ; but the Maid of Norway died on one of the Orkneys, 
from the fatigue of her rough voyage; and the Scottish Par- 
liament, unable to choose among all the competitors to the 
crown, referred the decision to the King of England. 

163. Attended by a great army, Edward met the Parlia- 
ment and all the rival claimants, at Norham on the Tweed; 
and having them in his power, declared that he should ap- 
point a king of Scotland, not as an umpire freely chosen, but 
as lord-paramount of the kingdom. This sovereignty, which 
belonged to earlier English kings, had been freely surrendered 
by Richard I., for himself and his successors (§§ 131, 136). 
The Scots had no choice but to submit ; and upon his promise 
of feudal homage to Edward, John Baliol received the crown. 
His kingship proved to be little more than a name. Six 
times, on trifling pretexts, Baliol was summoned to London, 



90 FEUDAL ENGLAND. [A. D. 1292. 

to appear before the English Parliament. The apparent de- 
sign was to vex him into a rebellion, and then confiscate his 
kingdom as a punishment. 

164. At last, even Baliol's spiritless nature was roused to 
resistance; 40,000 Scots made a sudden raid into Cumber- 
land. Edward was ready ; and, having repulsed them at 
Carlisle, drove them into Berwick, which he besieged by sea 
and land. The town was taken, and Edward entered its walls 
at the head of the assaulting column. For two days a fright- 
ful slaughter went on : when it ceased, it was only because 
every inhabitant had been slain. Dunbar was likewise taken. 
Roxburgh, Dumbarton, and Jedburgh received English gar- 
risons ; and the puppet king of the Scots, appearing in peni- 
tential garments before the Bishop of Durham, confessed his 
sins against his sovereign lord, King Edward, and resigned 
his crown absolutely into his hands. Believing that Scotland 
was now his permanent possession, Edward carried off to 
London the sacred "stone of Scone," on which Scottish 
kings had for centuries been crowned. 

165. A quarrel between some English and French sailors 
grew into a naval war between the two countries, which 
greatly encouraged the Scots, and led to that close alliance 
which for centuries united France and Scotland in common 
enmity to England. As Duke of Guienne (§ 160), Edward 
was vassal of the French King, who delighted to treat him 
in much the same manner in which Edward treated Baliol. 
He was summoned to appear at Paris, and answer for the 
misconduct of his subjects; and upon some slight and dis- 
honorable pretext, Guienne was declared to be forfeited and 
annexed to the French crown. Edward now made close 
alliance with the Count of Flanders, another powerful vassal 
of King Philip, whose country was to France very much 
what Scotland then was to England, — : a thorn in the side, 
which an enemy could at any time make use of to irritate 
and injure, 



A. D. 1297.] WALLACE LN SCOTLAXD. 



166. Edward's wars on the Continent were disastrous. 
The only bright side of their history is the opportunity which 
the English people found, in their King's necessities, to secure 
their rights. War is the costliest game that kings can play at ; 
and it was now well understood that by holding the purse- 
strings, the people had a check upon their rulers. Edward's 
demand for money was answered by a demand for the re- 
newal of the Charters, with an additional clause, "that no 
tallage or aid should be levied without the assent of the 
peers spiritual and temporal, and the knights, burgesses, and 
other freemen in Parliament assembled." The King's signature 
to this document, though most unwillingly granted, made it 
forever illegal for an English sovereign to levy any tax upon 
his people without their own consent, through their lawfully 
chosen representatives. 

167. The Parliament willingly voted a large subsidy as the 
price of this concession, and Edward was able to make peace 
with the King of France. To render the friendship more 
cordial, Edward, now a widower, married a sister of King 
Philip; and his son, the Prince of Wales, a daughter of the 
same sovereign. This last marriage involved England in 
centuries of war. 

168. Scotland, meanwhile, found a brave defender in 
William Wallace, probably a native of Strathclyde, a gentle- 
man of no high rank, but distinguished by extraordinary 
patience and determination, not less than by his wonderful 
strength. The great nobles mostly held themselves aloof, or 
gave him very feeble support ; but the common people re- 
garded him as their hero and deliverer. Indeed, we must 
remember that the nobles of Scotland, as well as those of 
England, were usually of Norman birth, and cared little for 
the country or the people where their estates lay. Baliol did 
homage to King Edward for lands in France and England, 
as well as in Scotland; and the true Scots of the Highlands 
preferred the English King to either Baliol or Bruce. 



02 FEUDAL ENGLAND. [A. D. 1297. 



Secretly gathering about him a desperate band of outlaws, 

Wallace attacked the English with a success which raised the 

courage of the Scots, while it struck terror into the enemy. 

Earl Warrenne, whom Edward had left as Guar- 

Sept., 1297. 

dian of Scotland, was defeated with great slaughter 
at Cambuskenneth, near Stirling, and Wallace ravaged all the 
northern counties of England. 

Enraged at this new outbreak of spirit in the Scots, Edward 
crossed the sea with a great train of knights and archers, to 
which he added the forces of England, Ireland, and Wales. 
In a battle near Falkirk, the Scottish army was defeated, 
scattered, and almost annihilated. But want of food forced 
Edward to retire; and, in 1303, the Scots were again in the 
field, led by Earl Comyn, son-in-law of Baliol. 

169. This time the English King was invincible. A great 
fleet laden with provisions sailed along the coast, nearly 
abreast of his land army. Edward marched victoriously 
from the south to the north of Scotland, reducing all the 
castles, and forcing all the chiefs to do him homage. Wal- 
lace was betrayed into his hands; and with a cruelty which 
disgraces the memory of Edward, was carried in chains to 
London, tried, condemned, and executed for treason against 
a king whom he had never acknowledged as his sovereign. 

170. Robert Bruce, a claimant of the Scottish throne, lived 
at Edward's court, petted and favored, but closely watched. 
A friend sent him a purse and a pair of spurs. He under- 
stood the warning, and lost no time in reaching the Scottish 
frontier. Here he invited Comyn to a meeting : a quarrel 
ensued ; and Bruce, drawing his dagger, stabbed Comyn 
where he stood, before the high altar of the church at Dum- 
fries. Then hastening to Scone, he was crowned in the 
Abbey which had witnessed the consecration of so many 
Scottish kings; and published a defiance to King Edward, 
no longer as Bruce of Annandale, but as King Robert I. 
of Scotland. 



A. D. 1307.] DEATH OF EDWARD I. 93 



171. The people rose bravely at his call, and drove the 
English from all but a few of the strongest castles. Edward 
saw that he must begin again his great work of conquering 
Scotland. His advance army did, indeed, defeat Bruce at 
Methven, and force him to take refuge in the Western Isles. 
But King Edward, who was following with a great army, 
was overcome by illness near Carlisle, and died at Burgh-on- 
the-sands, with his latest breath enjoining his son never to 
rest until he had conquered Scotland. 

Kings had not yet been designated by numbers added to 
their names. Edward's father was known to his own times 
as Henry of Winchester ; he himself received from his ene- 
mies in Berwick the name of " Longshanks," which clings 
to him still. But he was a man of majestic appearance, not 
.less than of distinguished mental power and of truly kingly 
generosity. He was a wise lawgiver ; and under his care the 
administration of justice in England became far more regular 
and secure. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Edward I. concentrates his energies within the British Isles. Con- 
quers the Welsh, and makes his infant son their prince ; puts down 
robbers ; persecutes and expels the Jews. Death of the infant Queen 
of Scots. Edward, as over-lord, confers the crown on John Baliol. 
Upon his refusal of homage, Berwick is taken and its people massa- 
cred. Alliance of Scotland with France ; Flanders with England. 
Increased power of the Commons. Peace and alliance between Eng- 
land and France confirmed by two marriages. Wallace becomes 
champion of the Scots; gains victory at Cambuskenneth, but is de- 
feated at Falkirk ; is captured and put to death. Robert Bruce es- 
capes from Edward's court ; murders Comyn ; is crowned King of 
Scots. King Edward dies on his march into Scotland. 

Read : Stubbs's Constitutional History of England, Vol. i ; Freeman's 
Historical Essays, Vol. i, Chap, iii ; Relations of the Crowns of England 
and Scotland. 



VII. EDWARD II. AND EDWARD III. 



^> 



E 




DWARD II. (A. D. 1307-1327) was 
a weak prince, the slave of worth- 
less favorites, and wholly the oppo- 
site of his great father. He had 
marched but a little way into Scot- 
land, when he suddenly ordered a 
retreat and disbanded his forces. 
His first favorite was Piers Gaves- 
ton, a French nobleman, whom he 
loaded with honors, riches, and 
lands. Piers married the King's 
niece, and was even intrusted with 
the regency during Edward's ab- 
sence in France. It mattered little, 
indeed, whether the King was pres- 
ent or absent : Gaveston ruled the 
land. The English nobles were en- 
raged by the insolence of this alien, 
their inferior in rank, and they de- 
manded his banishment. The King 
turned this punishment into a pro- 
motion, by appointing him Lord- 
Lieutenant of Ireland, and soon 
Edward's conduct was now more 
foolish and Gaveston's more insolent than ever; so that, in 
1 3 13, he was banished to Flanders, and a crowd of foreigners 
were deprived of their salaries and honors. Returning by 
the King's invitation, Gaveston was captured and beheaded 
by the barons. 

173. The Scots had taken advantage of England's humilia- 
tion to establish their own king, Robert Bruce. An English 
(94) 




Castle on the Border. 



afterward recalled him. 



a. D. 1330.] SCOTTISH INDEPENDENCE. 95 

army of 100,000 men was defeated, at Bannockburn, in 13 14. 
by only 30,000 Scots, — a great event, for it secured the inde- 
pendence of Scotland. 

Edward's next favorite was Hugh Despenser, a young man 
whose father was deservedly honored for his wisdom, valor, 
and fidelity in many high offices. The barons, however, 
would not have another rival : they made war against the 
two Despensers, and extorted from Parliament a sentence 
of perpetual exile against both. The King, with unusual 
spirit, raised an army and defeated the Earl of Lancaster, 
his cousin, who was leader of the barons. The Earl was 
captured and beheaded for his rebellion. 

174. Queen Isabella, who had gone to Paris to arrange 
some difficulties between her brother (§ 167) and her hus- 
band, now drew around her the English malcontents and 
made open war against the latter. Landing with an army 
in Suffolk, she was joined by several powerful barons, and 
the King fled into Wales. The two Despensers were put to 
death : the King was taken and imprisoned in Kenilworth 
Castle. A parliament summoned by the Queen declared him 
unfit to rule ; and the captive King was made to resign the 
crown in favor of his son. He afterward suffered a horrible 
death by the order of his unnatural wife. 

175. Prince Edward III. (A. D. 1327-1377), now fourteen 
years of age, was declared king; but the real power rested 
with his mother and her favorite, young Roger Mortimer, 
who soon assumed the title of Earl of March. They made 
a treaty with the Scots, acknowledging the independence of 
the Scottish king and parliament, and betrothing a sister of 
King Edward to David Bruce, son and heir of King Robert. 
But Mortimer's power was of short duration : he and the 
queen-mother were arrested in Nottingham Castle by the 
young King himself, and the favorite was hanged at Tyburn. 

176. England was now in grievous disorder; for robbery 
and all forms of violence had increased without check, under 



96 FEUDAL ENGLAND. [A. D. 1333. 

the weakness of Edward II. and the crimes of Isabella. 
Edward III. set himself with great energy to restore justice 
and order, and put down many gangs of robbers by his own 
personal presence. He then turned his attention to Scotland. 
Robert Bruce was dead, and his son David was only six years 
old. Edward and the English nobles favored the pretensions 
of a son of John Baliol, who was actually crowned at Scone, 
while David took refuge in France. Baliol ceded 
the fortresses of Berwick, Dunbar, Edinburgh, 
and all the south-eastern counties of Scotland, to become 
part of the English kingdom; and he, with many Scottish 
nobles, swore fealty to Edward III. 

177. The party of Bruce were encouraged by the breaking 
out of a war between England and France. Upon the death 
of Charles IV., Edward claimed the French crown in right 
of his mother, Isabella, who was a daughter of Philip IV., 
and a sister of the late king. Even upon his own rendering 
of French law, there was a nearer heir than himself; but 
Edward's claim being supported by a powerful army, brought 
much misery to both nations. Philip VI. of Valois assumed 
the crown, being the nearest heir in the direct male line. 
Edward had powerful adherents in Germany and in Flan- 
ders. The Emperor appointed him Imperial Vicar in the 
Low Countries; and Jacques van Artevelde, the brewer of 
Ghent, who was now leader of the Flemings, acknowledged 
him as King of France. 

178. A great naval battle off the coast of Flanders resulted 
in victory to the English. But his unjust wars with two 
kingdoms had used up Edward's treasures. The clergy and 
people refused more taxes, except upon the concession of 
greater privileges; and he was compelled to make peace 
with the King of France. 

A disputed" succession to the duchy of Brittany drew 
him again into French affairs; and, accompanied by his 
eldest son, now sixteen years of age, he marched with his 



A. D. 1 347.] BATTLE OF CRECY. 97 

army almost to the gates of Paris. Pursued by King Philip, 
he retreated to the Somme ; and here was fought the great 
battle of Crecy, in which the French, though three 
times as numerous as the English, were thoroughly 
defeated. The new invention of gunpowder * was employed 
by the English, for the first time in any great European bat- 
tle. The front ranks of the French were thrown into confu- 
sion; and Prince Edward, with extraordinary spirit, led a 
charge right into the disordered mass. His father, watching 
the field from the top of a windmill, refused to send him help, 
though sorely pressed. "Let the child win his spurs," he 
cried; "and let the day be his." 

179. The French King fought with great valor, but with- 
out success. His whole army took to flight, and were pur- 
sued and slaughtered without mercy. Among the slain was 
the blind old King of Bohemia, a singular soldier of fortune, 
who had fought on most of the battle-fields of Europe. He 
had ordered his horse to be tied to those of two gentlemen 
of his train, who rode on either side. All three knights lay 
dead together, while the three horses stood unhurt beside 
them. The Prince of Wales is said to have adopted the crest 
and motto of the dead King : his successors to this day bear 
the three plumes surmounting the proudly humble motto, / 
serve. The hero of Crecy was ever after known by the French 
as the Black Prince, from the armor which he wore on that 
fatal day. 

180. King Edward inarched with his victorious army to 
besiege the seaport of Calais. It held out nearly 

a year, through the resolution of its citizens ; but, 
at length, hunger drove them to surrender. Edward, impa- 
tient of the delay, had ordered a general massacre, but was 
prevailed upon to accept the lives of six chief citizens as 



* It was derived from Asia, and had been used by the Moors of 
southern Spain, in assaults upon walled towns some years before. 
Eng.— 7. 



FEUDAL ENGLAND. [A. D. 1347. 



ransom for the rest. Freely offering their lives for the rescue 
of their city, the six brave men repaired to the English camp, 
and were ordered to instant execution. But Queen Philippa, 
who had just arrived from England, bringing the good news 
of the capture and submission of the King of Scotland, * 
now threw herself at the feet of her husband, and demanded 
the pardon of the burgesses as the reward of her victory. 
It was granted : the good Queen entertained them joyfully 
in her tent, and sent them home laden with gifts. 

181. Calais was ordered to be vacated by its French in- 
habitants, and repeopled by English. Its prosperity was se- 
cured by a monopoly of the trade in wool, leather, tin, and 
lead, which were then almost the only exports from England 
to the Continent. The port of Calais was for two centuries 
an open door by which the English might enter France. 

A great plague, called the " Black Death," beginning in the 
plains of western Asia, swept over Europe during the years 
1348-135 1, destroying probably one-third of the whole pop- 
ulation. This fearful scourge silenced for a time the conten- 
tions of the kings; but scarcely was it removed, when war 
broke out again. 

182. King Edward, in 1355, crossed into northern France, 
while his son repaired to Guienne, and both armies covered 
the unhappy country with desolation. The next year, the 
Prince penetrated into central France, and at Poitiers gained 

over King John, who had now succeeded his 

father Philip, a still more remarkable victory than 

that of Crecy. The French King and his youngest son were 

taken prisoners, and were treated by the Black Prince with a 

gentle courtesy which went far to soothe their wounded pride. 



* In her campaign against the Scots, Queen Philippa became aware 
of the rich deposits of coal about Newcastle ; and perceiving their 
immense importance, she obtained permission from Parliament to 
open the mines. The coal of England is, directly and indirectly, a 
chief source of her wealth. 



A. D. 1360.] 



PEACE OF BRET TO XV. 



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PPvAXCE IN 13G0. 

King John remained three years in England; but, at length, 
a peace was signed at Bretigny, restoring him to freedom 
upon the payment of three millions of gold crowns. Edward, 
on his part, renounced all claim to the crown of France, and 
to the provinces of Normandy, Maine, Touraine. and Anjou, 
receiving in return almost the entire region south ot the 
Loire, which, with Guienne, became an independent sover- 
eignty for the heir to the English crown. Edward promised 
to cease meddling with the Flemings, and John with the 



LofC. 



ioo FEUDAL ENGLAND. [A. D. 1363. 

Scots. Among the forty hostages for the execution of this 
treaty were two of the French princes. They violated their 
parole ; and their father, indignant at this breach of faith, 
returned to London, where he died. 

183. His son Charles V., called the Wise, from the prudence 
which he had already learned in the hard school of adversity, 
succeeded to the French throne. He slowly but steadily re- 
trieved his father's losses, crowding the English out of all 
their conquests, except Calais, and even from nearly all their 
ancient possessions. 

While the Black Prince was holding his court at Bordeaux, 
he was called to interfere in the affairs of Castile, one of the 
five kingdoms which then occupied the Spanish peninsula. 
Pedro the Cruel had so disgusted his people, that a strong 
party, aided by the French, succeeded in deposing him, and 
placing his half-brother, Henry, upon the throne. Pedro 
appealed to Prince Edward, who marched into Spain and 
defeated King Henry at Najera. All Castile submitted and 
took back its atrocious king; but he proved a worse tyrant 
than before. Henry, with fresh forces from France, again 
dethroned him, and murdered the tyrant with his own hand. 
John, Duke of Lancaster, * brother of the Black Prince, 
married a daughter of Pedro, and asserted a claim to the 
Castilian crown in her name; but his ambitious schemes oc- 
casioned more trouble in England than in Castile. (§ 189.) 

184. The Prince of Wales never recovered from his Cas- 
tilian campaign. Some said that he had been poisoned by 
his wicked ally; others, that the fever which had carried off 
multitudes of his troops, had undermined his constitution. 
He died in 1376; and his father, overcome with sorrow and 

disasters, followed him one year later. This en- 
a. D. 1377. . . ... . , . ^ .. . 

ergetic reign was a bright period in English an- 
nals. Though Edward's foreign wars were unjust, they served 



*He is more commonly called "John of Gaunt," or Ghent, from 
the place of his birth in Flanders. 



PA OCR ESS UXDER EDWARD I IT. 



to occupy the turbulent spirits of the great nobles with adven- 
tures suited to their tastes, and left England at peace. The 
laws were well administered, and the common people enjoyed 
greater prosperity than for several centuries before or after. 
Flemish weavers were invited to settle in England, which 
soon became celebrated, as the Netherlands had been, for its 
fine manufactures of wool. 



185. The King's urgent need of money for his wars made 
him dependent upon the Parliament, and thus the representa- 
tives of the people acquired greater dignity and power. The 
loss of the French territories (§ 183) was the people's gain, 
for the feeling of nationality now grew stronger at home. 
The use of the French language in courts of law was abol- 
ished in this reign. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Edward II. offends English nobles by his fondness for Piers Gav- 
eston ; is defeated by Scots at Bannockburn ; makes war with the 
barons in behalf of his new favorite, Despenser. Earl of Lancaster 
is beheaded. Queen Isabella and the barons kill the Despensers; 
imprison the King ; take from him his crown and his life. 

Edward III. becoming king, arrests his mother ; hangs Mortimer, 
her favorite; suppresses disorders in his kingdom; claims crown of 
France ; is victorious off Flanders and at Crecy ; captures Calais, and 
makes it a seat of English commerce. War interrupted by the "Black 
Death"; recommences, and Prince of Wales captures King John of 
France, at Poitiers ; takes part in wars of Spain ; dies before his father. 
Flemish weavers introduce wool manufacture into England, which is 
prosperous under Edward III. 

Read; Michelet's History of France, for the French view of the 
wars with Edward III. ; Froissart's Chronicles, for the battles of Crecy 
and Poitiers; D. F. Jamison's Life and Times of Bettrand Duguesclin, 
for the war with Pedro the Cruel. 



VIII. REIGN OF RICHARD II. 




ICHARD of Bordeaux (A. D. 1377- 
1399), son of the Black Prince, 
succeeded to his grandfather's 
crown; but as he was only eleven 
years old, a Council of Regency 
was chosen by the Parliament. 
The people idolized their hand- 
some young King as they had 
his great father, and his early 
years encouraged their hopes. 
A formidable sedition, known 
as Wat Tyler's Rebellion, ex- 
cited by the insolence of the 
tax gatherers, spread through 
many counties, and threatened 
Two Merchants. to destroy the aristocracy, if not 

to overturn the government it- 
self. The insurgents burned the Duke of Lancaster's palace ; 
and, breaking into the Tower of London, murdered the Arch- 
bishop of Canterbury and the Treasurer. The King, then 
sixteen years of age, rode out to meet them. Wat Tyler, 
their leader, came boldly forward, and in his talk with 
Richard behaved so rudely that one of the King's attendants 
struck him to the ground, and the rest dispatched him with 
their swords. 

187. Seeing their leader fall, the mob put themselves in 
motion to avenge him ; but the young King, quitting his 
companions, rode fearlessly among them, crying out, "What 
means this disorder, my good people? Are ye angry that ye 
have lost your leader? I am your king; I will be your 
leader." Overawed by his presence, the rioters turned at 
(102) 



A. D. 1397.] WAT TYLER'S REBELLIOX. 103 

once and followed him to the fields, where he was soon 
joined by a body of veteran troops. He forbade, however, 
any slaughter of the insurgents ; and after distributing among 
them copies of a charter promising pardon and deliverance 
from their worst grievances, he dismissed them peaceably to 
their homes. 

188. Unhappily, King Richard had promised more than 
he could perform. He did, indeed, urge Parliament to 
emancipate the serfs; but Parliament answered that his char- 
ter of liberties was null and void : serfs were the property 
of their employers, who could not be deprived of their goods 
but by their own consent. "And this consent," added the 
proud landlords, "we have never given, and never will give, 
were we all to die in one day." 

189. The French war still went on, with many disasters 
to the English. Their immense trade with Flanders was cut 
off by the submission of Ghent and the whole country to a 
brother of Charles V. (§ 183). A French army landed in 
Scotland and threatened to invade England ; and the men 
and means which Parliament provided for the common de- 
fense, were squandered in Spain by John of Gaunt, who was 
attempting, in his wife's name, to gain the Castilian crown. 
The Duke of Gloucester, another uncle of the young King, 
managed to vest the whole sovereign power in a Council of 
Regency, with himself at its head. Richard's resistance was 
put down by force of arms ; his favorite minister, the Duke 
of Suffolk, and all the opponents of the Council, were doomed 
to exile and death. 

190. Soon after coming of age, the King took the sov- 
ereignty into his own hands, and made peace with France. 
The Duke of Gloucester was imprisoned, and when sum- 
moned to trial, was found dead in his cell. Pleased with the 
new taste of power, and hating opposition, Richard tried to 
reign without a parliament, meeting the expenses of his gov- 
ernment by forced loans. The good and bad impulses which 



ro4 FEUDAL ENGLAND. [A. D. 1398. 

governed him were alike fatal to the continuance of his power. 
The war-loving barons were offended by the peace ; the land- 
owners, by his protection of the serfs ; the merchants, by his 
demands for money ; and the clergy, by the favor he showed 
to Wicliffe and the new freedom of religious opinion. Still 
more disastrous was his jealousy of his cousin Henry of Lan- 
caster, an able prince, who had distinguished himself as a 
good soldier and zealous Christian by fighting against the 
heathen tribes near the Baltic. 

191. On pretext of stopping a quarrel in which Henry was 
engaged, the King banished him ; and upon the death of John 
of Gaunt, seized all the family estates. Thereupon, the new 
Duke of Lancaster, sailing from France, landed with a few 
companions at Ravenspur, in Yorkshire, and was joined by 
several powerful nobles who were disaffected toward Richard. 
His army in a few days numbered 60,000 men. It was in- 
creased by the royal forces, which the King, who was now 
in Ireland, had left under the command of the Duke of York. 
Richard, on his return, was deserted by his followers, sur- 
rounded by the rebel troops, and immured in Flint Castle. 

192. Henry had constantly declared that he came only to 
take possession of his father's estates, which were his by 
right ; but he now saw the crown within his reach. Bishops, 
nobles, and people, offended by the violation of their several 
privileges or rights, were on his side. Parliament, with great 

unanimity, voted the deposition of Richard and 
the coronation of Henry. The deposed King died 
soon afterward in his dungeon ; and his death was so profita- 
ble to his successor, that he was universally believed to have 
been murdered. 

193. Before relating the history of the three Lancastrian 
kings, we will glance at the changes in religion, language, 
literature, and social habits which had taken place under the 
early Plantagenets. At first, the cultivators of the soil were 
simply slaves; and it was a merciful law which entitled them 



A. D. 1381.] SOCIAL CONDITION. 105 



to remain all their lives upon the land where they were 
born. Custom gradually secured to each serf his little hut 
and garden-plot, and limited the amount of service he had to 
render. This done, his remaining hours were free ; and if 
by additional labor he became the owner of cattle, he was 
permitted to pasture them upon the waste lands of his lord's 
estate. When the peasantry became too numerous to find 
employment in tillage, they were allowed to pay rents in 
money instead of service ; and the needs of the great nobles, 
during the wars of Edward III., led them even to sell free- 
dom to many of those families which had served themselves 
or their ancestors for centuries. 

194. The Black Death (§ 181), by diminishing the number 
of people, doubled the price of labor ; and when the great 
landlords, through their enormous influence in Parliament, 
tried to lower wages or reduce the peasantry to serfage again, 
the latter rose in revolt (§ 186). A Kentish priest, named 
John Ball, boldly set forth the popular grievances, while he 
mistook their true cause and remedy as completely as any 
' 'Chartist" or "Communist" of our time. "Good people," 
cried he, "things will never go well in England so long as 
goods be not in common, and so long as there be villains and 
gentlemen. By what right are they whom we call lords greater 
folk than we? Why do they hold us in serfage? They are 
clothed in velvet, and warm in their furs, while we are cov- 
ered with rags. They have wine and spices and fair bread, 
and we oat-cake and straw, and water to drink. They have 
leisure and fine houses ; we have pain and labor, the rain and 
the wind in the fields. And yet it is of us and our toil that 
these men hold their state. — When Adam delved and Eve 
span, where was then the gentleman?" 

195. Deeper than this worldly discontent was the new re- 
ligious spirit which began to protest against abuses in the 
Church. The Mendicant Friars (§ 159) had lost the gener- 
ous impulses with which they at first set out, and had become 



io6 FEUDAL ENGLAND. 

a burden and a nuisance to the people. John Wicliffe, the 
greatest Oxford professor of his time, fearlessly assailed the 
greed of the clergy, their sale of indulgences for sin, and the 
gift of church benefices to foreign priests, "who neither see 
nor care to see their parishioners, convey away the treasure 
of the realm, and are worse than Jews or Saracens." 

196. Wicliffe, like Bacon (§ 157), was surrounded by a 
throng of eager disciples, — earnest young men, who, scatter- 
ing to their humble parishes, diffused throughout England the 
Gospel which Wicliffe taught. Their enemies, in scorn, called 
them " Lollards," or babblers; but the common people heard 
them gladly. Their teacher, himself laying aside the learned 
Latin speech of the University, wrote many tracts in the 
rough, strong language of the plowmen and mechanics of his 
day, — writings which are the earliest specimens of English 
prose. King Richard's first wife, Anne of Bohemia, favored 
the new doctrines ; and many of her countrymen, who came 
to study at Oxford, carried Wicliffe's writings thence to the 
University of Prague, where they enkindled a wonderful re- 
ligious movement. For Bohemia, as well as for England, 
Wicliffe was the "Morning Star of the Reformation." 

197. His greatest work was a complete translation of the 
Bible into the language of the common people. In 1381, he 
quitted Oxford for the humble duties of a parish priest at Lut- 
terworth ; and there, after three years of study and 
charity, he died. Thirty years later, the rage of 

his enemies invaded his tomb, burned his bones, and scattered 
the ashes upon a little brook which flowed through the village. 
"Thus," says Fuller, "the brook conveyed his ashes into 
Avon; Avon into Severn; Severn into the narrow seas; they 
into the main ocean : and thus the ashes of Wicliffe are the em- 
blem of his doctrine, which is dispersed over all the world." 

198. If Wicliffe was the father of English prose, Chaucer, 
who outlived him fifteen years, was the first modern Englisii 
poet. Many causes, operating through five hundred years, 



WICLTFFE .AND CHAUCER. 1 07 



had changed the language of England, so that the prose of 
Alfred and the verse of Caedmon could no more be read in 
Chaucer's day than in ours, without especial study. Chaucer's 
best known work is the Canterbury Tales, in which he has 
presented lively pictures of the men and women of his time, 
in all ranks from sailor to baron, and from doctor to plow- 
man. His sympathy with Wicliffe is expressed in his praise 
of the poor parson — who followed "Christ's lore and his 
Apostles'" before he taught it to his flock — and in his ridi- 
cule of the indulgence-seller, with his wallet "full of pardons 
come from Rome all hot." 

199. Chaucer was a favorite of king and nobles, and his 
verse breathes the perfumed elegance and luxury of the court. 
The people's poet of the time was Robert Langland, who 
called himself Piers the Plowman. He sang in ruder and 
sadder lines the hunger, toil, and misery of the poor man's 
life, darkened by his own ignorance and the pitiless op- 
pressions of his superiors in rank. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Revolt of the English peasantry quelled by fearlessness of Richard 
II. His promises of emancipation are annulled by Parliament. As- 
cendency of the Duke of Gloucester; his imprisonment and death. 
Richard fails to content any class of his people; exiles Henry of Lan- 
caster, and confiscates his inheritance; is deposed by Parliament; and 
Henry, who has been joined on his return by a powerful party, is 
placed upon the throne. Richard dies in his prison. 

Progress of agricultural class from slaves to peasants. War between 
landlords and laborers. Abuses in the Church exposed by WicliftVs 
teachings. His influence in England and Bohemia. He translates 
the whole Bible into English. Is called the Morning Star of the 
Reformation. Chaucer is the father of English poetry. Depicts the 
whole life of his time in the Canterbury Tales. Piers Plowman is the 
poor man's poet. 

The Roman Catholic view of Wicliffe is fairly put in Lingard's 
History of England, Vol. iv, Chap. in. 



IX. HOUSE OF LANCASTER. 



DMUND Mortimer, Earl of March, 
was nearest heir to the throne, 
according to strict principles of 
hereditary monarchy. But the 
English crown had always been 
in some degree elective, and 
there is no doubt that Henry 
IV. (A. D. 1399-1413) had all 
the claim that could be derived 
from the national will. The con- 
f flict between these two principles 
I was not settled until some cen- 
turies had passed. The Earl of 
March was a child of seven years 
at the time of Richard's death 
(§ 192), and he was kept in a 
sort of mild captivity throughout 
Henry's reign. 

201. The King tried to please 
the clergy by persecuting the 
Lollards; and for the first time 
since the extermination of the 
Druids, English air was tainted with the smoke of human 
sacrifices. Henry was less successful in his dealings with the 
great nobles. One of the first and most powerful adherents 
to whom he owed his crown was Henry Percy, the Earl of 
Northumberland. But when the Earl had won a great vic- 
tory over rebellious Welsh and invading Scots, the King sent 
him strict orders not to ransom his prisoners : he wished to 
make better terms with Scotland by the possession of one of 
(10S) 




Lollard at Stake. 



A. D. 1406.] REBELLION OF PERCY. 109 



its great nobles. But by the laws of war in that age, the 
ransom of a prisoner belonged to his captor ; and the proud 
Percy felt himself both insulted and robbed. He now re- 
solved to overturn the throne which he had chiefly aided to 
set up. 

202. He joined the Welsh rebel, Glendower ; he allied 
himself with his prisoner, the Earl of Douglas ; and their 
combined forces met those of the King, at Shrewsbury. 
King Henry and his brave son were in the thickest of the 
fight. Northumberland was absent through illness : his son, 
the fiery-tempered Harry Hotspur, commanded the rebel 
forces; but his death decided the fiercely fought battle. 
Northumberland was pardoned, in view of his former serv- 
ices and his great loss. Two years later, he was again in 
rebellion ; this time with Scrope, Archbishop of York, as his 
ally. The rising was quickly put down, and the Archbishop 
was beheaded as a traitor. The King was soon afterward 
seized with a loathsome disease, which he and many others 
believed to be a judgment of Heaven upon this sacrilegious 
deed. 

203. Accident threw into Henry's hands the heir to the 
Scottish throne, whom he ungenerously kept a prisoner for 
eighteen years. King Robert III. of Scotland stood in mortal 
fear of his violent and unscrupulous brother, the Duke of 
Albany, who had already caused the heir-apparent to be 
starved in a dungeon, and seemed bent on destroying all 
lives between himself and the throne. To save his only re- 
maining son from destruction, the King sent him to France ; 
but the vessel, though in time of peace, was taken by English 
cruisers ; and the Prince, now nine years old, was 
detained by King Henry. He received some 

amends for this injustice in the liberal education which he 
acquired during his captivity, and which enabled him greatly 
to improve his kingdom on his return. Grief at his capture 
broke his father's heart : Robert III. died, and the Scottish 



no FEUDAL ENGLAND. [A. D. 1406. 

government remained many years in the hands of the Duke 
of Albany. 

204. Henry IV. was less beloved as king than as duke. 
Resentment at Richard's misgovernment was lost in pity at 
his untimely fate; and Henry's consciousness of the irregular 
manner of his own accession, made him suspicious even of 
his eldest son, and stern and cruel toward all whom he, 
however unjustly, suspected of plotting against him. Never- 
theless, the power of the Commons was greatly increased 
during this reign. It could hardly be otherwise, when the 
King's best title to his crown was rested upon their consent. 
Henry died, A. I). 141 3, in Westminster Abbey, where he 
had been kneeling before the shrine of Edward the Confessor. 

205. His son, Henry of Monmouth, now King Henrv V., 
was the idol of the people, not more for his extraordinary 

gifts both in war and government, than for His 
gay and genial disposition, which contrasted 
strongly with the gloomy temper of his father. He had been 
addicted to low company in his youth ; but on coming to the 
throne, he dismissed his wild companions, confirmed his 
father's wise old ministers in their offices, and entered upon 
a better life. All party differences were forgotten, except 
that which separated Catholics and Lollards. 

206. An old friend of Henry's, Sir John Oldcastle, after- 
ward Lord Cobham, a good soldier and able counselor, was 
found guilty of disbelieving the Real Presence in the sacra- 
ment, and some other Catholic dogmas. He was, in truth, 
the chief leader of the Lollards, now a powerful party in the 
state ; and when imprisoned in the Tower, under sentence 
of death, he was enabled to make his escape, and set on foot 
a formidable insurrection against the King. This act added 
treason to heresy. Many of his followers were taken and put 
to death ; and when, after four years, Cobham himself was 
captured, he was first hanged and then burnt, to combine the 
punishments due to both his crimes. 



A. D. 1415.] BATTLE OF AGWCOURT. in 



207. Having purified his kingdom, as he fondly hoped, 
from the stain of heresy, Henry determined to prosecute a 
claim to the crown of France. This might seem the most 
ludicrous of pretensions, if its enforcement had not cost the 
lives of 100,000 men. Even if the wife of Edward II. 
(§§ 167, 177) had had any right to her father's crown, it 
was of no avail to the House of Lancaster, so long as Ed- 
mund Mortimer lived. Rut Henry's" title to his English 
kingdom needed to be strengthened by military fame; his 
barons' appetite for stirring adventures might have made 
mischief at home, if it had not been gratified abroad; and 
the miseries of France, which might have moved a more 
generous heart to pity, afforded every prospect of an easy 
conquest. 

208. The French King was insane; his heir was lazy and 
luxurious ; his wife hated her son and betrayed her husband ; 
his brothers took advantage of the wretched confusion to en- 
rich themselves out of the treasures of the state; and all 
France was rent by a quarrel between the Orleanists, led by 
the King's nephew, and the Burgundians, who followed his 
cousin. Into this distracted scene Henry entered, Aug. 13, 
141 5, with his well equipped and powerful army of 30,000 
men. His first movement was against Harfleur, which he 
took after a five weeks' siege, though with the loss of half 
his men. The sick and wounded were sent away by sea. 
while their King marched toward Calais. 

209. The French army, numbering four times his own. 
awaited him under the castled heights of Agincourt; and 
here was fought a third great battle (§§ 178, 182), in which 
the English, against surprising odds, won the day against the 
brave and brilliant chivalry of France. Heavy 

7 J Oct., 1415. 

rains had made the ground difficult for cavalry, 
while Henry's light-armed archers were able to move with 
ease. They opened the battle with one well-aimed volley of 
arrows; then seizing the hatchets which hung from their 



H2 FEUDAL ENGLAND. [A. D. 1415. 

necks, rushed forward with a deafening shout, which in- 
creased the confusion of the wounded men and horses before 
them. The gallant knights and gentlemen, weighted with 
their steel armor, sank to their saddle-girths in mud and 
marsh. 

210. One by one the French lines gave way: 10,000 "gen- 
tlemen of France " lay dead upon the field ; and among the 
14,000 prisoners were the Duke of Bourbon, and the Duke 
of Orleans, nephew of the King. The battle of Agincourt 
destroyed the old nobility of France, and left the throne for 
a time unsupported. But the expense of maintaining a mod- 
ern army made the victory almost useless to the English ; 
and Henry retired to his own country, "covered with glory 
and buried in debt." 

211. In 141 7, he landed again in Normandy with 25,000 
men. The miserable jealousies of the French princes had 
been working for him, and he quickly subdued Lower Nor- 
mandy and captured Rouen. The base and brutal murder 
of the Duke of Burgundy by a servant of the Dauphin, * 
immediately after a solemn treaty of peace between the two 
princes, still more favored the English. The new Duke allied 
himself with them against his father's murderer, promising 
even to do all in his power to make Henry king of France. 
By the Treaty of Troyes it was agreed that Henry should 
marry a daughter of the imbecile King, Charles VI., while 
his brother, the Duke of Bedford, was to marry a sister of 
the Duke of Burgundy. King Charles was to keep his royal 
title, but the King of England was to administer the kingdom 
in his name, and to receive its crown at Charles's death, in 
exclusion of the Dauphin. 

212. Henry, with his captive father-in-law, made a tri- 
umphal entry into Paris; and a year later, the birth of his 
son was celebrated with equal rejoicings in the French and 



The eldest son of the King of France bore this title. 



A. D. 1422.] DEATH OF HENRY V. 1 13 

the English capitals. But Henry's prosperity was of short 
duration : he died of a sudden and painful dis- 
order,— committing the government of France to 
the Duke of Bedford; that of England, to another brother, 
the Duke of Gloucester; and the guardianship of his son, to 
the Earl of Warwick. His widow soon contracted a second 
marriage with Owen Tudor, a descendant of the Welsh 
princes, and became ancestress of another proud line of 
English sovereigns. (See Table p. 119.) 

RECAPITULATION. 

Henry IV. imprisons a nearer heir of Edward III. than himself; 
burns Lollards to please the clergy; offends Earl of Northumberland, 
who rebels with aid of the Scots and Welsh. Defeat and death of 
Harry Hotspur at Shrewsbury. Execution of Archbishop Scrope. 
Captivity of James I. of Scotland. Henry's gloomy and unpopular 
temper. His title being derived from the will of the people, the 
Commons gain power during his reign. 

Henry V. reforms his conduct on his accession to the throne. The 
Lollards become a political party ; their leader is executed for heresy 
and treason. Henry invades France; captures Harfleur; gains a great 
victory at Agincourt ; marries a daughter of the French King, and is 
acknowledged as his successor ; dies before his father-in-law. Regency 
of his two brothers, in minority of his son. 

Read : Gairdner's Houses of Lancaster and York ; Shakespeare's 
Henry IV. , beginning at Part i, Act iii ; and Henry V.< 



Eng.— 8. 



X. HOUSE OF LANCASTER. 




'HE poor, crazy King of France died two 
months later than his English son-in-law, 
and the Duke of Bedford caused the in- 
fant Henry VI. (A. D. 1422-1461) to 
be crowned at Paris as his successor. 

Joan of Arc. The Dauph i n wag w i U Jl y ca ] led "King 

of Bourges," that city being nearly the extent of his actual 
dominion, though the sovereignty of France was his by right. 
For six years the war steadily favored the English ; but in 
1428 came a singular turn of fortune. The English were be 
sieging Orleans, an important city which, by commanding 
the river Loire, held the key to southern France. If it fell, 
the fortunes of Charles VII. were irretrievably ruined. 
(iH) 



A. D. 1436.] JOAN OF ARC. 1 15 

214. At this point, a simple peasant girl, Joan of Arc, 
believed herself inspired by Heaven to deliver France. Pre- 
senting herself before the Dauphin, she so far convinced him 
of her mission, that he intrusted her with a command. Dis- 
playing her consecrated banner at the head of her troops, 
she excited at once the hopes of the French and the fears of 
the English, and triumphantly convoyed a train of provision 
wagons into the beleaguered town. By successive sorties she 
drove the English from their fortifications; and, at length, 
the Earl of Suffolk, finding it impossible to make his soldiers 
fight against the supposed messenger of Heaven, broke up 
his camp and withdrew from the town. 

215. Having thus delivered Orleans, Joan prepared for the 
second part of her mission, — the conducting of the King to 
Rheims for his coronation. This also was triumphantly ac- 
complished. Charles was anointed with the holy oil which 
had served for the consecration of all the sovereigns of 
France since Clovis. This done, the heroic maid demanded 
leave to return to her sheepfolds. But Charles, hoping 
further advantage from her presence, refused to let her go; 
and she was soon afterward captured by the 

May., 1431. 

English. To their lasting disgrace, she was 

treated not as a prisoner of war, but as a sorceress, and 

condemned by a court of bishops to be burnt to death. 

216. The spell of English ascendency was broken. France 
willingly submitted to her hereditary king. The Duke of 
Burgundy made peace with his feudal chief, and the Duke of 
Bedford died soon afterward, — some said from vexation at 
the event. Paris opened her gates to Charles VII. ; and 
though the war continued, with intervals of truce, for nearly 
twenty years, the English power rapidly declined. 

217. Let us now return to England, where the Duke of 
Bedford's death produced effects scarcely less disastrous than 
m France. The kingdom was divided between two parties, 



Ii6 -FEUDAL ENGLAND. [A. D. 1445. 

led respectively by the Duke of Gloucester, a proud but 
generous prince, the young King's uncle, and by his great 
uncle, Cardinal Beaufort, a son of John of Gaunt. One 
great subject of rivalry between them was the choice of a 
wife for the young King. Henry was of a gentle and harm- 
less disposition, but in the powers of his mind he resembled 
rather his imbecile French grandfather, than either of the 
three great English sovereigns from whom he was more im- 
mediately descended. A spirited wife would, it was hoped, 
supply his defects; and the choice of the Beaufort party fell 
upon Margaret of Anjou, reputed to be the most beautiful, 
clever, and accomplished princess of her age, though at this 
time she was but fifteen years old. Their plan prevailed ; 
and a secret article of the marriage treaty ceded the English 
province of Maine, in France, to Margaret's uncle, Charles 
of Anjoii. 

218. The new Queen became a warm adherent of the 
party which had secured her marriage, and plotted with 
them the ruin of the Duke of Gloucester. He was impris- 
oned on a charge of treason, and died before his trial, prob- 
ably by the contrivance of his enemies. His uncle, Cardinal 
Beaufort, died a few weeks later, in agonies of remorse. 
Margaret was no favorite with the English people. When 
her kinsman, the King of France, reconquered Normandy 
and Guienne, they suspected treachery of the same kind 
which had deprived them of Maine ; and though seldom 
willing to vote money for the wars in France, which were, 
in fact, opposed to their true interests, they felt the loss of 
any territory as a national disgrace. 

21 9. The poor King of England was at a low ebb in his 
fortunes. The crown-lands and revenues had been wasted 
during his minority, and his household could only be sup- 
ported by a system of robbery politely called the "royal 
right of purveyance." The popular wrath at this state of 
things fell upon the Duke of Suffolk, Margaret's chief ally. 



A. D. I454-] CADE'S REBELLION. 117 

With the hope of saving him from summary vengeance, the 
King banished him ; but he was overtaken and murdered by 
his enemies before he could leave the kingdom. The discon- 
tent of the people broke out in seditions and riots, of which 
the most formidable was Jack Cade's Rebellion. Twenty 
thousand insurgents followed this man, who took the popu- 
lar name of Mortimer (§ 200). They defeated the King's 
forces and marched upon London, which opened its gates 
to receive them. With some difficulty the rebellion was put 
down, and Cade and many of his followers paid the penalty 
with their lives. 

220. If Henry VI. had been as able a man as his father, 
it might have been forgotten, by this time, that his grand- 
father was a usurper. But his incapacity reminded people 
of the imperfection of his title, and the better claims of the 
Mortimers. This family was extinct in the male line (see 
Table, p. 119), but its rights were transferred by marriage to 
the House of York. Richard, Duke of York, was a brave, 
able, and generous prince, closely allied by marriage to the 
earls of Salisbury and Warwick, the most powerful noblemen 
in the kingdom. The latter was soon known as the "King- 
maker," from his commanding influence. He was the last 
of the great barons who held their broad lands on condition 
of service in war; and wherever Warwick moved, he was 
attended, if he so pleased, by an army of retainers. No 
fewer than 30,000 persons fed daily at his expense, in the 
various castles and manors which belonged to him; and 
soldiers and people idolized him as the greatest representa- 
tive of their national aristocracy. 

221. The birth of a Prince of Wales, instead of strength- 
ening the King's cause, removed all hope of the peaceable 
succession of the Duke of York, and thus hastened the ap- 
proaching conflict. The King, about the same time, became 
utterly imbecile. The Queen and her council had to yield 
to the popular will, and the Duke of York became lieutenant- 



Ii8 FEUDAL ENGLAND. [A. D. 1461. 



general and protector of the kingdom. A gleam of returning 

reason enabled the King to dismiss York, and commit the 

government to Somerset, the nearest relative of the House 

of Lancaster. York levied an army and gained 

A. D. 1455. - & 

a battle at St. Albans, in winch Somerset was 
slain and the King wounded. This was the first blood shed 
in the "Wars of the Roses," — so called from the Yorkists 
wearing a white rose and the Lancastrians a red one as their 
symbols. 

222. Still the conflict slumbered five years. In 1460, the 
King was taken prisoner by the Earl of Warwick. Parlia- 
ment attempted to settle the rival claims, by making the 
Duke of York Protector during Henry's life, and successor 
to the crown at his death. But Queen Margaret bitterly re- 
sented this exclusion of her son. Raising an army in Scot- 
land and the northern English counties, she defeated Duke 
Richard at Wakefield, with the loss of his life. His head, 
encircled with a paper crown, was fixed upon a gate of York. 
Of the three sons who survived him, two, Edward and Rich- 
ard, became kings of England, while his granddaughter Eliz- 
abeth was queen of Henry VII. His eldest daughter became 
the wife of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, one of the 
most renowned princes of the age. 

Queen Margaret gained another victory at St. Albans, and 
recovered her husband from his captivity ; but she was soon 
compelled to retreat northward, and the young Duke of 
York, entering London, was proclaimed king as Edward 
IV., March 3, 146 1. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Coronation of Henry VI. at Paris. Siege of Orleans by English ; 
its rescue by Joan of Arc, who secures the crowning of Charles VII. 
at Rheims; she is captured and burnt to death. Decline of English 
power in France. Unpopular marriage of Henry VI. with Margaret 
of Anjou. Death of rival English princes; the Duke of (Gloucester 



GENEALOGICAL TABLE. 



119 



and Cardinal Beaufort. Jack Cade's Rebellion. Greatness of the 
Earl of Warwick, the king-maker, who favors the royal claims of the 
Duke of York. During insanity of the King, dukes of Somerset and 
York are rivals in the protectorship. Wars of the Roses begin with 
battle of St. Albans, in which the King is defeated and Somerset 
slain. Death of the Duke of York at Wakefield. Coronation of his 
son as King Edward IV. 

Read: Michelet's/oaw of Arc ; Harriet Parr's Life of Joan of Arc ; 
De Quincy's essay on the same subject ; Guizot's Popular History of 
France, Vol. iii ; Iredell's Memoirs of Jeanne Dare, with the History of 
her Times; Bulwer-Lytton's The Last of the Barons. 



Descent from Edward III. of the Three Royal Houses of 
Lancaster, York, and Tudor. 



Edward III. 

I 



I 
Edward, Pr. of 
Wales, d. 1376, 
I 184. 

Richard II. 

deposed, 1399, 



I 
Lionel, Duke of 
Clarence. 

I 
Philippa, mar. 
Edm. Mortimer, 
Earl of March. 

I 
Rog. Mortimer, 
Earl of March. 



I 
Edm. Mortimer, 
Earl of March, 
d. 1424, 11 200, 
207. 



I 

Anne Mortimer 
in. Richard, E. 
of Cambridge. 



I I 

J. of Gaunt, m. 3 Cath. Swynford. Edmund, D. of 
Duke of Lan- I York, 

caster. John Beaufort, I 

I E. of Somerset. Richard, Earl of 

Henry IV. I Cambridge, be- 

John Beaufort, headed, 1415. 
D. of Somerset. I 

Richard, D. of 
Henry V. m. York, died at 

Catherine of Wakefield, 1460, 

France, who m. 2 Owen Tudor. j) 222. 

I I 

Henry VI. Edmund Tu- 

I dor, Earl of 

Edward, Pr. of Richmond, m. Margaret 
Wales, d. 1471, Beaufort. 

I 226. I I 

I 
Henry VII. 



Edward IV 
I 



Elizabeth Edward V. 

m. Henry VII. d. 1483. 
(See p. 150.) 



Richard, D. of 
York. 



George, D. of 
Clarence. 

I 



Richard III. 



I I 

Edward, E. of Margaret, Count- 
Warwick, be- ess of Salisbury, 
headed, 1499. beheaded, 1541. 



XI. HOUSE OF YORK. 




DWARD IV. (A. D. T461-1483) was 
a brave and able, but cruel king ; 
willing to wade through seas of 
blood to the assured possession 
of his throne. A terrible battle 
at Towton ended in the defeat 
and slaughter or dispersion of 
the Lancastrians. Some of the 
noblest heads in England fell 
upon the scaffold, and their con- 
fiscated wealth went to build up 
the despotic power on which the 
King had set his heart; for it 
enabled him to support ' the ex- 
pense of government without hav- 
ing recourse to Parliament. 

Queen Margaret did not abate 
her efforts, but with the French King's aid invaded England 
in 1464. She was twice defeated, and taking refuge with her 
son in the woods, was robbed of all her jewels, but managed 
to escape while the ruffians were quarreling over their prize. 
Meeting another robber, she appealed not in vain to his gen- 
erosity, and was safely conveyed over the border. Her hus- 
band was imprisoned in the Tower. 

224. King Edward married an English lady, Elizabeth 
Woodville, and thereby offended the Earl of Warwick, who 
was planning a brilliant foreign match for- his master. The 
new Queen claimed all the gifts and honors of the court for 
her own kinsmen, and lost no opportunity to thwart and 
injure Warwick. The old nobility, incensed by the rise of 
(120) 



William Caxton, Printer. 



A. D. 1476.] INTRODUCTION OF PRINTING. 121 

all these "new people," mustered around the King-maker. 
Chief of them all in rank was the King's own brother, the 
Duke of Clarence, who married a daughter of the great 
Earl. 

225. Warwick now repaired to the French court, where he 
met Queen Margaret, and engaged to support the royal rights 
of her husband and son. Landing with a few followers on 
the Kentish coast, the Earl was soon joined by a great army. 
Edward fled beyond seas; and in eleven days „ ^ 

J ? A. D. 1470. 

from his arrival, Warwick was master of England. 
He took Henry VI. from his prison and showed him to the 
people as their king. But Edward IV., aided by his Bur- 
gundian brother-in-law (§ 222), soon mustered a small fleet 
and army, and effected a landing in Yorkshire. Gaining the 
two great cities of York and London, he threw poor King 
Henry into his dungeon again; then rallying all his forces, 
he met Warwick at Barnet, and won a victory which was 
completed by the great Earl's death. 

226. Margaret, landing the same day at Weymouth, heard 
of the disaster; but she increased her army and fought with 
Edward at Tewkesbury, where she and her son became pris- 
oners. The Prince was murdered in the very presence of his 
conqueror, the signal for the crime having been given by a 
blow from the King's own hand. His father died a few days 
later in the Tower ; his unhappy mother, after years of fierce 
and restless plotting /or revenge, died in 1482, at her father's 
court in Provence. 

227. The remainder of Edward's reign was inglorious. 
He invaded France ; but being disappointed of the aid he 
expected from the Duke of Burgundy, he consented to be 
bought off by the wily King Louis XI. The greatest event 
of his reign — though little marked, perhaps, by the King — 
was the introduction of printing. William Caxton, a worthy 
London merchant, had retired from trade and become a 
copyist in the service of King Edward's sister the Duchess 



122 



FEUDAL ENGLAND. 



[A. D. 1476. 



A. D. 1476. 



of Burgundy. Hearing of the new art — the invention of one 
Hollandish and two German mechanics — which was multiply- 
ing books with miraculous speed, Caxton set himself, in his 
sixtieth year, to become a printer ; and, three 
years later, carried his press and types to Eng- 
land. Here the old man toiled until his eightieth year; and 

sixty-five books, of many of 
•: iy^li^i^M^iilife^,: which he was author or 

translator, as well as printer, 
bear witness to his industry 
and zeal. 

228. Edward IV. died in 
1483, and his eldest son, 
Edward, was acknowledged 
as king, under the regency 
of his uncle Richard. But 
the Duke of Gloucester's 
long concealed ambition now 
came to its fulfillment. He 
seized and beheaded the 
young King's uncle and half- 
brother on the mother's side, 
and, under the title of Pro- 
tector of the Realm, took 
the whole power into his 

own hands. The Queen and her five daughters fled into 

sanctuary at Westminster. 

229. One morning the Protector entered the Royal Coun- 
cil, with an angry face. ''What punishment," he cried, 
"should be visited upon those who plot against my life?" 
"Death!" cried Lord Hastings, the President of the Council, 
with excess of zeal. "These traitors," said Richard, "are 
my brother's wife and her accomplices. See to what -a state 
they have reduced me by their witchcraft ! " >So saying. 
he raised his sleeve and showed an arm all withered and 




Costumes at the time of Edward IV. 



A. D. 1485.] RICHARD III. 123 



shrunken. Knowing well that this had been its condition 
from infancy, Hastings said, "If they have done this deed, 
my lord,'* — "If!" shouted the Protector; "dost thou talk 
to me of ifs ? I tell thee, thou art a traitor ; and by St. Paul, 
I Avill not dine until I see thy head cut off!" Without appeal 
to law or justice, Hastings was hurried into the outer court 
of the Tower, and laid across a beam which happened to 
be lying there. " His head was cut off with an ax, and the 
Lord Protector dined." 

230. Only one more crime lay between Richard and the 
throne. The two young princes, Edward and his brother 
Richard, Duke of York, had been lodged in the Tower. 
They never more appeared in open day ; and there is no 
reason to doubt the horrid story that they were smothered 
in their bed by ruffians, hired by their uncle for the purpose. 
The Duke of Gloucester became Kino; Richard 

A. D. 1483-1485. 

III. ; and, to do him justice, consoled the peo- 
ple by wise and beneficent government for the violence with 
which he had seized the crown. He convoked a parliament, 
annulled most of the exactions and tyrannies of his brother's 
reign, protected the growing commerce of the realm, and 
favored especially the diffusion of learning. 

231. But the English people now remembered with pride 
the warlike glory of Henry V., and the meek virtues of his 
son, while it forgot their faults in the violent crimes and ex- 
cesses of their Yorkist successors. Their hopes and wishes 
turned toward Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, a descend- 
ant through a female line from John of Gaunt, and therefore 
a representative of the House of Lancaster. (See Table, p. 
119.) He had been many years on the Continent, protected 
alternately by the Duke of Brittany and the King of France, 
Louis XL. whose crooked and artful policy he thoroughly 
imbibed. By his betrothal to Elizabeth, eldest daughter of 
King Edward IV., he won the support even of the Yorkists, 
who were horrified by the murder of their young King. 



124 FEUDAL ENGLAND. [A. t>. 1485. 

232. Landing with a small French army at Milford Haven, 
Tudor advanced to Bosvvorth Field, in Leicestershire, where 
Richard was drawn up to receive him. In the night before 
the battle, half the chiefs of the royal army marched over 
with all their followers to the Tudor side. Nevertheless, 
Richard fought as if all the valor of the royal line which 
ended in him were nerving his arm and firing his braim 
Plunging into the thickest of the crowd, he hewed his way 
to the presence of Henry, — resolved that the 
question between them should be settled by the 
death of one, — and fell, overborne by numbers, but fighting 
to his last breath. His crown was found on a thorn-bush 
and placed upon the head of his conqueror, who was hailed 
from all parts of the field with shouts of "God save King 
Henry the Seventh ! " 

Thus ended the Plantagenet Line; and in its fall, Feudal 
England also passed away. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Arbitrary and cruel temper of Edward IV. Misfortunes of Queen 
Margaret. The new Queen offends the King-maker, who reinstates 
Henry VI., while Edward flees the kingdom. He returns, and War- 
wick is defeated and slain at Barnet. Margaret and her son are pris- 
oners at Tewkesbury. Death of Henry VI. and his son. Introduction 
of printing. Richard of Gloucester usurps power upon his brother's 
death ; murders Lords Rivers, Grey, and Hastings, and his two 
nephews; is crowned as king. Henry Tudor invades England; 
espouses Elizabeth of York ; gains battle of Bosworth, in which 
Richard is slain; is crowned as King Henry VII. 

Read : Gairdner's History of the Life and Reign of Richard the Third ; 
Paston Letters, edited by Gairdner, with prefaces and notes; Scott's 
Anne of Geierstein, and Quentin Durzaard ; Shakespeare's Richard LLI. 



QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW. 
PART II. 

1. Describe the reign of William the Conqueror. $96-109, 114 

2. The character and reign of his successor. 110-114 

3. What princes had part in the Crusades? 113, 136, 137, 155 

4. Tell the history of Henry Beauclerc. H5-U7 

5. Who had the best right to succeed him? 118, 119 

6. Describe Stephen's reign. 120-123 

7 . The first of the English Plantagenets. 123, 124, 133 

8. Name the chief events of his reign. 1 24-132 

9. Tell the story of Thomas a, Becket. 125-129 
10. What other primates had great influence? 100, no, ill, 143 

What kings in this period persecuted the Jews? 135, 161 

Describe the character and adventures of Richard I. 134-140 

The character and reign of John. 132, 138, 141-146 
The minority of Henry III. 148, H9 

His foreign connections. I5°» I 5 I 

j6. Simon de Montfort and the rise of the English 

Parliament. I5 2 -I54 

I7 . Roger Bacon at Oxford. I 5 6 ~ I 5 8 

!8. The rise of the Mendicant Orders. x 59 

19. On what terms was Wales united with: England? 160 

20. Describe the policy of Edward I., and the progress of 

Parliament. 161-171 

21. Tell the whole story of Scotland, and its relations with 

English kings. 20, 47, 53, 58, 76, 99, "5, I2 3, W> l 3 6 > l62 ~ 
165, 168-171, 173, !75> 176, 180, 203 

22. Describe the character and reign of Edward II. 172-174 
21. The acts of Edward III., at home and abroad. I75~ l8 5 

in 
his and the following reign. 186-188, 193, 194 

25. The character of Richard II., and his govern- 

ment. 189, 190 

26. Tell the ^tory of Henry of Lancaster. 190-192, 200-204 

(125) 



24. The condition and conduct of the peasantry 



126 FEUDAL ENGLAND. 

27. Tell the story of Wicliffe. '$ 195-197 

28. Describe the chief poets of the time. 198, 199 

29. The reign of Henry V. 205-212 

30. What three great victories of the English in France? 178, 182, 209 
31: Describe the English regency in France. 213-216 

32. The reign of Henry VI. in England. 217-219 

33. What occasioned the Wars of the Roses? 220-222 

34. Describe the character and reign of Edward IV. 223-227 

35. Tell the story of the "King-maker." 220, 224, 225 

36. Describe the reign of Richard III. 228-232 

37. What claims had Flenry Tudor to the English -crown ? 

38. How many kings of the Elder Norman Line ? 

39. Flow many Plantagenets ? 

40. What was the average length of their reigns? 

41. How many captive kings at the court of Edward III.? 

42. Had the House of York or that of Lancaster the better hereditary 

claim to the crown ? 

43. What was the strongest claim of Henry IV. ? 



PART III— THE TUDORS. 



I. OPENING OF THE MODERN ERA. 




E turn over a new leaf in the His- 
tory of England, and enter upon 
the study of a grand new era. 
The Wars of the Roses, now 
ended, had broken down that 
mighty baronage which wrested 
Magna Charta from King John, 
and availed itself of his son's 
weakness to perfect the founda- 
tions of English freedom. Their 
fall was doubtless a benefit, for 
their iron hand had rested heavily 
upon the people. But the imme- 
diate effect was to give, not greater 
freedom to the people, but greater 
power to the king. The confis- 
cated wealth of the great houses 
had enabled Edward IV. to reign 
almost without parliaments ; and 
the Tudors ruled with higher hand 
than even the Plantagenets had 
done. Nevertheless, the diffusion 
of intelligence through printed 
books, and the mental excitement caused by the stirring events 
which ushered in the modern era, led to great progress in art, 
science, literature, and the refinements of home-life, 

(127) 



Discovery of America. 



128 HOUSE OF TUDOR. [A. D. 1487. 

234. In Europe at large, men were greeting the dawn of 
a new day. Scholars, fleeing westward after the conquest 
of Constantinople by the Turks, had brought copies of many 
great works of ancient literature ; and the enthusiasm they 
inspired was not confined to the learned circles of the Uni- 
versities. Knowledge was no longer the rare privilege of 
those who could buy costly manuscripts, but had become the 
birthright of all. 

235. In France and Spain, no less than in England, the 
great fiefs had become absorbed into powerful monarchies; 
and permanently paid troops had taken the place of the old 
feudal armies, which had always been ready to crumble to 
pieces just when most needed. The possession of standing 
armies enabled kings to engage in distant wars, and these 
wars first made the several nations acquainted with each 
others' languages and ideas. 

236. The minds of men awoke to new enterprises which 
greatly increased the sum of human knowledge. The Por- 
tuguese were first to put forth into the stormy Atlantic; and 
one of their captains, rounding the Cape of Good Hope, 
opened a sea route to India and the great, rich continent 
of Asia. Other nations followed ; and, seven years after the 
battle of Bosworth, an Italian in Spanish service set his foot 
upon the threshold of a New World. The explorations, fol- 
lowing this magnificent discovery, afforded a welcome outlet 
to the daring and restless spirits of Europe ; and the voyages 
of Columbus were among the great events that distinguished 
the opening of the modern era. 

England had her full share in the adventures of those 
glorious days. Though prevented from aiding Columbus, 
Henry VII. sent a fleet under Cabot, a Venetian, which was 
the first to approach the American Continent ; and the brave 
and hardy English, inclined to the sea, not less from their 
Norse or Saxon blood than from their island home, were 
soon to be found in the remotest quarters of the globe. 



A. D. 1493.] TWO IMPOSTORS. 129 



237. The early years of Henry VII. were disturbed by 
two Yorkist insurrections. An Oxford priest, named Simon, 
taught Simnel, a baker's boy, to enact the part 

& ' V 1 A. D. 148V-1509. 

of the young Earl of Warwick, Clarence's son 
(§ 224), whom King Henry had confined in the Tower. 
Ireland was warmly attached to the House of York, and 
especially to the Duke of Clarence, who had been its lord- 
lieutenant; and when Simon's pupil landed at Dublin as 
Edward Plantagenet, the whole island greeted him with loyal 
acclamations as King Edward the Sixth. 

In England, the rebellion was quickly put down by the 
exhibition of the true Edward in the streets of London. 
But the dowager Duchess of Burgundy (§§ 222, 227), easily 
convinced or willingly deceived by the imposture, sent over 
a German army to invade England, in concert with Simnel's 
Irish forces. By the battle of Stoke the rebellion was com- 
pletely crushed. Simon, being a priest, was only imprisoned ; 
and the pretended Plantagenet became a scullion in the 
King's kitchen. 

238. The second insurrection was led by a supposed 
Richard, Duke of York (§ 230). His real name was Perkin 
Warbeck, son of a merchant of Tournay; but his courtly 
manners and speech, with his intellectual gifts and accom- 
plishments, made him more presentable as a prince than poor 
Simnel, the baker's boy, had been. Charles VIII. of France, 
who was preparing for a war with England, entertained him 
at Paris with all the magnificence suitable to a royal prince; 
and the Duchess of Burgundy, after scrutinizing and ques- 
tioning him severely, embraced him, with joyful tears, as her 
long-lost nephew. 

239. The brisk trade then kept up between England and 
the Netherlands, afforded means of spreading in the former 
country the news of the wonderful escape of the "White 
Rose." But King Henry's spies were so many and vigilant, 
that few dared breathe a word in favor of the Pretender. 

Eng.— q. 



130 HOUSE OF TUDOR. [A. D. 1496. 

The King of Scotland, however, received him with royal 
honors, gave him a noble lady for his wife, and even invaded 
England, in hope that at least the Yorkshire people would 
rise in favor of their native prince. This hope was disap- 
pointed, and Perkin had to take refuge in the Irish bogs. 

The poor miners of Cornwall had meanwhile been driven 
to rebellion by heavy taxes, and the pretended prince appear- 
ing among them, was soon at the head of 7,000 
men. But at the approach of the royal forces, 
"King Richard IV." deserted his followers and fled, surren- 
dering himself soon afterward upon a false promise of pardon. 
This unkingly cowardice satisfied the people that he was no 
Plantagenet, and there was little grief when he was hanged 
at Tyburn. The young Earl of Warwick was beheaded a 
few days later; and this revengeful act destroyed whatever 
love the people may still have felt for Henry VII. 

240. Henry's notorious avarice was so far a benefit to 
England, that it restrained him from costly wars. But he 
availed himself of a quarrel with France to extort a forced 
loan — curiously called a benevolence — from his people, while 
he was already secretly negotiating the terms of a peace. 
This was obtained by a large payment from the King of 
France to the King of England, who thus, like a shrewd 
merchant, made a double profit out of friends and enemies. 

241. The only important events of Henry's remaining 
years were the marriages of his children. Arthur, his eldest 
son, espoused Catherine, a daughter of the Spanish sov- 
ereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella, whose kingdom was now 
the most powerful in Europe (§ 249). The young Prince 
died a few months after the marriage ; and King Henry, 
unwilling to surrender the 200,000 ducats of the Princess's 
dowry, obtained the Pope's permission to marry her to his 
next son, Henry, who now became heir to the crown. His 
eldest daughter, Margaret, was married the same year to 
James IV., King of Scotland. Both of these marriages had 



A. D. 1509.] DEATH OF HENRY VII. 131 

important effects, not only in the affairs of England, but in 
those of Europe. 

242. In 1506, the Princess Catherine had a forced visit 
from her eldest sister, who was wife of the Archduke Philip 
of Austria. A storm drove the Archduke's vessel into an 
English harbor; and King Henry refused to let his guests 
depart until he had wrung from them a new treaty of com- 
merce with the Netherlands, and some other concessions of 
equal advantage to himself. The King's avarice grew with 
his declining years. His worst instruments were Dudley and 
Empson, two lawyers whose professional skill only enabled 
them to oppress the innocent, and fill the King's chests with 
ill-£rotten treasures. 

o 

243. As he felt his end approach, Henry's disposition to 
drive a hard bargain did not desert him: he engaged 2,000 
masses, at six-pence a piece, to be said for the repose of his 
soul. He also ordered restitution to be made to all whom 
he had injured; but this, unhappily, was no longer possible. 
He was buried in the grand chapel which he had built for 
himself, as an addition to Westminster Abbey, and which 
still bears his name. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Opening of the Modern Era. Fall of feudalism, rise of standing 
armies, and increase of kingly power. Revival of learning ; growth 
of intelligence among the common people. Maritime enterprise; 
opening of a sea route to India; discovery of America by Columbus 
and Cabot. Two impostors claim the crown of Henry VII., without 
success. Henry avoids war for economical reasons; allies his children 
with the royal houses of Spain and Scotland ; extorts a commercial 
treaty from Philip of Austria ; hoards money wrung from his people 
by unrighteous exactions. 

Knight's Popular History, the Pictorial History, and Agnes Strick- 
land's Lives of the Queens of England, may be consulted upon this 
period. 



II. REIGN OF HENRY VIII. 




Headsman. 



EVER king came to his throne 
amid greater joy of his people, 
or with brighter promise of a 
happy and glorious reign, than 
Henry VIII. (A. D. 1509- 
1547). The rival families of 
York and Lancaster were hap- 
pily united in him. He was 
heir of an enormous treasure, 
which he dispensed with gay 
liberality, while he brought to 
the block the guilty agents by 
whom it had been collected 
(§ 242). Henry was eighteen years old, handsome, energetic, 
and fond of chivalrous amusements, while endowed with great 
powers of mind, a hearty friend of the New Learning, and 
inspired with a sincere desire to rule justly. 

245. A few weeks after his accession, he celebrated his 
marriage with the Princess Catherine (§ 241), and the two 
were crowned together, June 24, 1509. Henry's thirst for 
"glory" led him to join the Spanish and Italian powers in a 
league against France, reviving the almost forgotten claim of 
his ancestors to the western provinces of that kingdom. His 
first enterprise brought no good to England; for his crafty 
father-in-law, the King of Spain, used the English forces to 
conquer Navarre for himself, instead of Guienne, for which 
they had been sent. Henry's own invasion of France, though 
he captured Terouenne and Tournay, was hardly more suc- 
cessful ; for the League was suddenly dissolved by Ferdi- 
nand's desertion, and Henry was left to make peace as best 
he might. 

(132) 



A. D. 1515.] GREATNESS OF WOLSEY. T33 

246. The treaty was sealed by the marriage of the King's 

sister Mary with Louis XII., the aged King of France. 

Louis died soon afterward, and his young cousin Francis, 

the life-long rival of Henry, received the French crown. The 

widowed young queen was soon married to Charles Brandon, 

Duke of Suffolk, a great favorite of her brother, and the most 

accomplished nobleman of his time. Her sister, the Queen 

of Scotland (§ 241), had been widowed the year before, by 

the disastrous battle of Flodden Field. James IV., thinking 

to make a diversion in behalf of his ally, the King of France, 

entered England with a great army and ravaged 

& & / e Sept _ f I513 

Northumberland. He was met by the Earl of 
Surrey at Flodden, near the Cheviot Hills, where, in a long 
and obstinate combat, the flower of Scotch nobility perished, 
and the King was slain. Queen Margaret, as regent for her 
infant son, sued for peace, which her brother readily granted. 

247. Henry's chief minister at this time was Thomas Wol- 
sey, a churchman of humble birth but great genius, who, by 
the King's favor, rose rapidly into power. He became Arch- 
bishop of York, and was allowed to hold the sees of Tournay, 
Lincoln, and Winchester "in plurality." The Pope not only 
sent him a cardinal's hat, which made him a prince of the 
Church, but added the dignity of papal legate, which gave^ 
him a power in England equal to that of the Pope himself. 
By the King he was intrusted with the Great Seal; and no 
abler chancellor ever administered justice in England. So 
prompt and so just were his decisions, that the Court of 
Chancery — contrary to its later character — became the sure 
refuge of the oppressed. 

248. While really the mainspring of all that was done in 
England, Wolsey contrived to make every act of government 
appear to proceed directly from the King, and nattered his 
royal master by affecting the most humble submission to his 
will. Like the King himself, he was a friend of the New 
Learning ; a munificent patron of learned men. He founded 



134 HOUSE OF TUDOR. [A. D. 1519. 

the first professorship of Greek in England ; he established a 
school at Ipswich and a college at Oxford, which, under its 
later name of Christ Church, still attests his taste and liberality 
in building. His household almost equaled the King's in 
number and magnificence ; knights and barons served at his 
table; and his two mansions, at Hampton Court and White- 
hall, were splendid enough to be adopted as royal palaces, 
after his fall from power. 

249. On the death of the Emperor Maximilian, the kings 
of France, Spain, and England all became candidates for the 

imperial crown. The German electors conferred 
it upon Charles V. , King of Spain, and grandson 
of the former Emperor, who thus became the greatest mon- 
arch of his time. From his father he inherited the seventeen 
duchies, counties, and baronies which were known collectively 
as the Netherlands, or Low Countries; from his mother, all 
the kingdoms of Spain, the great duchy of Milan in northern, 
and the kingdom of Naples in southern Italy. The world 
itself seemed to have been enlarged for him ; for all the lands 
and treasures of the newly discovered hemisphere (§ 236) 
had been conferred upon the Spanish sovereigns by a pope 
who was himself a Spaniard. 

250. King Francis, bitterly disappointed by his failure in 
the imperial election, sought Henry's friendship as a counter- 
poise to the enormous power of Charles. A royal interview 
was arranged to take place near Calais; but before the ap- 
pointed time, the new Emperor made a friendly visit to 
England. He flattered Wolsey with a promise of becoming 
pope at the next vacancy, and won the favor of Henry and 
Catherine by his frank and genial courtesies. On the day 
of his departure, Henry and all his court set sail for Calais. 

251. The meeting which followed is known as the Field 
of Cloth of Gold, so gorgeous were the tents and trappings 
of the two courts. The two Kings displayed their knightly 



A. D. 1526.] 



FOREIGN RELATIONS. 



35 




Tilting Helmet. 



skill in tilts and tourneys, while their ministers talked busi- 
ness; — then parted, with profuse assurances of friendship 
and esteem, when Henry pro- 
ceeded to visit the Emperor at 
Gravelines, and to be won over 
more completely to the imperial 
side. Wolsey received the reve- 
nues of two Spanish bishoprics, 
in earnest of his greater expecta- 
tions. In spite of the Emperor's 
promises, his tutor Adrian was 
made pope upon the death of 
Leo X. ; and when Adrian died, 
after a short reign, Clement VII., 
an Italian prince, received the tiara by favor of His Imperial 
Majesty. 

252. Nevertheless, Henry made a new league with Charles 
and the Constable de Bourbon, a great feudatory of Francis, 
to divide the French kingdom among them. The misfortunes 
of Francis seemed complete when, in 1525, he was taken 
prisoner before Pavia and conveyed into Spain. His two 
enemies were at first inclined to use their advantage most 
ungenerously. Henry proposed to be crowned at Paris, like 
the fifth and sixth English kings of his name; and afterward 
to accompany the Emperor to Rome, where Charles, like his 
great namesake seven hundred years before, might receive 
the diadem of the Caesars. But the Emperor was too cau- 
tious to engage in so wild and insolent a scheme. He pre- 
ferred to gain what he wanted from Francis through the rigor 
of a hard captivity. Henry then assumed the better part 
of a mediator, and through his good offices a peace was con- 
cluded which secured the liberty of Francis. 

253. About this time a doubt arose in the King's mind, 
which led to a greater revolution than ever sprang from a 
royal whim before. According to existing canons, his 



136 HOUSE OF TUDOR. [A. D. 1526. 

marriage with his brother's widow (§ 241) was unlawful. 
All the sons born of this marriage had died in infancy; and 
only a sickly daughter, the Princess Mary, survived. Now, 
there was no precedent * for the 'succession of a woman to 
the English throne; and it was doubtful, even if Mary's life 
were spared, whether the nation would accept her as its sov- 
ereign. The King's superstition saw in the loss of his chil- 
dren a sure mark of the wrath of Heaven. Wolsey's artful 
counsels deepened his fears, if they had not first excited 
them; for the Cardinal hated the Spanish party, of which 
Queen Catherine was the head, and coveted the glory of ar- 
ranging a new marriage for his master with some French 
princess. But Henry made his own choice, without the aid 
of his minister or even the permission of the Pope. Anne 
Boleyn, a young lady of the Queen's household, had won 
his admiration, and decided him in favor of the divorce. 

254. Pope Clement VII. had a difficult question to decide. 
Opinion in Europe was in an excited and unsettled state: 
and many things more important than King Henry's family 
affairs would be affected by his judgment. England, France, 
Germany, and the Low Countries were full of secret or open 
adherents of Luther, and were ready upon any slight pre- 
text to sever their connection with the Catholic Church. At 
length, cardinals Wolsey and Campeggio were appointed to 
try the cause in England. But, under the influence of the 
Emperor, who was a nephew of the unhappy Catherine, 
the Pope changed his mind, and cited the King and Queen 
of England to appear at Rome and plead their respective 
causes at his bar. 

255. The fall of Wolsey soon followed. The Great Seal 
was taken from him and intrusted to Sir Thomas More. His 
palaces, with their gorgeous plate and furniture, were seized 



* Matilda (22 118, 122) had been rejected by a majority of the 
nation. 



A. D. 1529.] ROYAL SUPREMACY. 137 

for the King's own use. He was impeached on forty-four 
charges, and sentenced to forfeiture of lands and goods, with 
imprisonment of his person. But the King pardoned all his 
offenses and ordered him to retire to his archbishopric, the 
only dignity he retained. The next year, his enemies caused 
him to be arrested on a charge of high treason, for setting up 
a foreign court in the King's dominions ; but on 

. . Nov., 1530. 

his way. to London, he died at Leicester Abbey. 
Before his death he uttered these memorable words: "Had 
I but served God as diligently as I have served the King, 
He would not have given me over in my gray hairs." 

256. King Henry in his early years had won the proud 
title of Defender of the Faith, by writing a book against 
Luther ; and he was now ashamed to further the Reformation 
by breaking his connection with the Pope. Thomas Cran- 
mer, a Cambridge scholar, had the good fortune to suggest 
a way out of the difficulty. He proposed to lay before all 
the universities of Europe the question, " May a man marry 
his brother's widow?" If they answered Yes, the King's 
conscience would be relieved ; if they counseled divorce, the 
Pope would be unable to resist their judgment. The opinion 
of the learned men was found to be against the King's wishes ; 
but, meanwhile, the course of events in England, together 
with the bold advice of Thomas Cromwell, his new secretary 
of state, led him to more decisive action. 

257. The Parliament which met in 1529 declared the whole 
Church guilty of the crime for which Wolsey had been con- 
demned, namely, of yielding supreme obedience to a foreign 
power. The clergy only obtained pardon by paying an enor- 
mous fine, and acknowledging the King's supremacy over the 
Church. The Pope's claim to tribute and obedience was an- 
nulled; monasteries were subjected to inspection and control 
by the King's officers ; bishops were to be appointed by the 
clergy attached to their cathedrals, upon receiving letters of 
permission from the King. 



8 HOUSE OF TUDOR. [A. D. 1533. 



258. All who refused to take the oath of the King's 
supremacy, or to admit the lawfulness of his divorce and re- 
marriage, were declared traitors. Under this act Bishop 
Fisher, of Rochester, and Sir Thomas More * — two of the 
King's most noble and faithful servants — were beheaded for 
high treason. The monks of the Charter-house, in London, — 
a brotherhood celebrated, in that corrupt age, for the purity 
and beneficence of their lives, — either were executed upon 
the gallows or died of fever and starvation in a loathsome 
imprisonment. By the same parliament, King Henry's mar- 
riage with Catherine of Aragon was annulled, and that with 
Anne Boleyn acknowledged and confirmed. Cranmer, now 
Primate of England by the King's appointment, had already 
pronounced the same decision in ecclesiastical court. In 
1 533, the birth of the Princess Elizabeth was celebrated with 
great splendor and rejoicings. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Popularity of Henry VIII. Is outwitted by the King of Spain in 
his war with France. Death of James IV., at Flodden Field, is fol- 
lowed by peace with Scotland. Power and wealth of Wolsey ; his 
patronage of the New Learning. Immense dominion of Charles V. 
Field of Cloth of Gold followed by visit of the English King to the 
Emperor. Henry seeks a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, which 
Pope Clement dares neither grant nor refuse. Fall and death of 
Wolsey. Cranmer furthers the divorce; is rewarded v£kh archbishop- 
ric of Canterbury. Parliament declares the King to be head of the 
Church. 

The Catholic view of the King's divorce and re-marriage is clearly 
set forth in Lingard, Vol. vi, Chap, iii ; Froude, in his History of Eng- 
land, labors to put Henry VIII. in the most favorable light. 



* More was one of the most admirable men of his time, whether 
we regard his bright genius, his wonderful learning, his ardent piety, 
or the sweetness of his domestic life. In his romance of Utopia or 
No7vhcre, he depicts a perfect society, and satirizes the faults and op- 
pressions of his own age and country. 



III. REIGN OF HENRY VIII. 




The Chained Bible. 



HE commissioners charged by the 
King with a visitation of the mon- 
asteries, reported a frightful amount 
of wickedness carried on under 
cover of religious professions. The 
story was doubtless exaggerated, in 
order to reconcile the people to the 
stern measure which Cromwell, now 
vicar-general, had resolved upon; 
but as the " Black Book" was read 
in Parliament, cries of "Down 
with them ! down with them [the 
monasteries] ! " rose from all sides. 
Within two years, all the ' ' religious 
houses " in England were closed by 
act of Parliament. All their rentals, 
gold, silver, and other property were 
confiscated. The abbots were pen- 
sioned, and part of the revenues 
were expended in founding schools, 
colleges, and six new bishoprics ; 
but a large part went to enrich the 
Ring's courtiers and favorites. 



260. Much discontent and some disorder followed the sup- 
pression of the monasteries. Their bounty had fed armies of 
paupers, who through dependence on charity had become 
unable to earn an honest living. In the northern counties, 
40,000 persons undertook what they called a Pilgrimage of 
Grace. Ah the towns and castles north of the Humber fell 
into their hands. A "Parliament of the North" met at 
Pomfret, demanded reunion with Rome ; the restoration of 

(i39) 



140 HOUSE OF TUDOR. [A. D. 1536. 



the Princess Mary to her rights as heiress to the crown, and 
the fall of Cromwell. The rebellion was put down with ter- 
rible cruelty. Four great abbots were hanged, and the last 
of the old feudal chiefs fell by the headsman's ax. The ten 
years of Thomas Cromwell's administration 
have been well called the English Reign of 
Terror. Opinion itself was made treason; and a man's re- 
fusal to reveal his inmost thoughts was regarded as evidence 
of crime. 

261. Even royal blood was not spared. The venerable 
Countess of Salisbury, niece of Edward IV. (Table, p. 119), 
nnd granddaughter of the "King-maker," was forced to lay 
her gray head upon the block, no less than her son, and their 
cousin the Marquis of Exeter. Poor Queen Anne, three years 
from her coronation, was imprisoned in the Tower on charges 
of treason and unfaithfulness; and the same archbishop who 
had confirmed her marriage, now pronounced it null. She 
was beheaded ; and, three days afterward, the King married 
Jane Seymour, lately an attendant of Anne. In October of 
the next year, the whole nation rejoiced in the birth of a 
prince, who received the favorite name of Edward ; but their 
joy was clouded by the Queen's death, some weeks later. 

262. As the Protestant influence just now prevailed at 
court, a new royal marriage with Anne, sister of the Duke 
of Cleves, Berg, and Jiiliers, on the Lower Rhine, was soon 
negotiated. But in marrying to please his courtiers, the King 
failed to please himself; and his displeasure extended to 
Cromwell, the chief promoter of the alliance. The old nobles 
hated Cromwell as a low-born upstart, and the Catholics, as 
the destroyer of the monasteries. He was accused of heresy 
and treason ; and though neither charge could be proven, 
he was beheaded without a hearing, — "judged," said the 
Council, "by the bloody laws he has himself made." 

263. The Protestant marriage was annulled; Anne meekly 
accepted a home and revenues in England, and outlived the 



A. D. 1542.] MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS. 



141 



King by ten years. The fifth alliance of this oft-married 
monarch was still less fortunate. Catherine Howard, a niece 
of the Duke of Norfolk, won his devoted affection; but it 
was discovered that not only before but even after her mar- 
riage, her conduct had been shamefully bad. The 

*=» ' J A. D. 1542. 

King was compelled to sign a warrant for her ex- 
ecution on Tower Hill, together with an accomplice who had 
been the chief accuser of Anne Boleyn. 



264. During this year, King 
James V. of Scotland, a nephew 
of King Henry (§§ 241, 246), 
died, leaving only an infant 
daughter to inherit his crown. 
War was then raging between 
the two kingdoms, and the 
King's death was occasioned 
in no small degree by his vex- 
ation at his army's defeat on 
Solway Moss. But Henry, see- 
ing the favorable chance for 
uniting the whole island under 
one crown, now made peace 
and proposed to marry his son 
Edward to the baby Queen. 
One party among the Scottish 
nobles warmly favored this 
match ; but the Catholic party 
succeeded in thwarting it and 
forming a close alliance with 
the King of France. 




Suit of Armor. 



265. Enraged at his failure, 
Henry now allied himself with the Emperor, and, crossing 
the Channel in great force, besieged and captured Boulogne. 
But Charles, as soon as he had gained his own purposes, 
made a treaty with Francis, without so much as mentioning 



142 HOUSE OF TUDOR. [A. D. 1547. 

his English ally. Two years later, a peace with France and 
Scotland closed this expensive and inglorious war. 

266. Henry's persecutions were distributed with great im- 
partiality between the Catholics, who denied his supremacy, 
and the Protestants, who disbelieved his creed. Anne Ascue, 
a lady oi the court, was burnt to death for denying the Real 
Presence in the sacrament. Even Catherine Parr, the King's 
sixth and last wife, nearly lost her head by a theological dis- 
cussion; but her ready submission saved her life. As the 
King's health declined, his temper became more despotic 
than ever. He ordered the Duke of Norfolk and his accom- 
plished son, the Earl of Surrey, to prison on a charge of as- 
piring to the crown. Surrey was beheaded, and his father's 
death-warrant was already signed, when the King himself 
died, in the fifty-sixth year of his age and the thirty-eighth 
of his reign. 

267. The capricious and tyrannical acts which have dark- 
ened Henry's name, were performed during the last twenty 
years of his life. If he had died at thirty-six, he would 
doubtless have ranked in history among the wisest and best 
of kings. But the possession of undisputed power gradually 
turned his strong will into blind obstinacy, his wisdom into 
dogmatism, and even his religious sense of responsibility for 
the right belief of his subjects, into a motive for atrocious 
persecutions. His life-long rival, Francis I., died the same 
year, and was succeeded on the French throne by his son, 
Henry II. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Parliament dissolves the monasteries. Insurrection in the north. 
Cromwell's Reign of Terror ; his disgrace and execution. The King 
marries Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine 
Howard; the first and last are beheaded; Catherine Parr survives 
him. Death of James V. of Scotland. Proposed marriage of his in- 
fant daughter with Prince Edward of England. Henry VIII. and his 
rival, Francis I. of France, die the same year. 



IV. EDWARD VI. — MARY I. 




Costume in Edward's Reign. 



ING Edward VI. (A. D. 1547- 
1 553) at his accession was only 
nine years old. His father 
had, therefore, appointed a 
Council of Regency under 
the Earl of Hertford, after- 
ward Duke of Somerset, who, 
being the young King's uncle 
by the mother's side, might be 
supposed to have the strong- 
est interest in his safety. 
Hertford immediately assumed 
royal power, with the title of 
Protector of the Kingdom, 
and formed a new Council, 
from which the adherents of 
the Roman Church were wholly excluded. Favoring the re- 
formed doctrines, Somerset took care that the young King's 
teachers should be of the same opinions ; and it was bis wish 
that, without violent changes or persecutions, England should 
become Protestant. His chief opponent, Gardiner, Bishop 
of Winchester, was thrown into prison. A commission of 
clergy, with Archbishop Cranmer at its head, compiled a 
Book of Common Prayer, the same, but for a few slight 
alterations, as that now used in England. 

269. The Reformation was going on with great vigor in 
Scotland, where the Protestants favored the English alli- 
ance, while the Catholics closely allied themselves with the 
French. Somerset now invaded Scotland with a great fleet 
and army, to put down the French party and insist upon 

(143) 



144 HOUSE OF TUDOR. [A. D. 1547. 



the marriage of little Queen Mary with the young King of 
England. The Scots in general ' ' were not averse to the 
match, but they liked not the manner of the wooing." 
Somerset gained a victory at Pinkie, but was 
recalled into England before he could push his 
advantage; and Mary was immediately sent over to France 
and betrothed to the heir of that kingdom. 

270. The Protector's talents were not equal to his ambi- 
tion, and he was soon alarmed by the aggrandizement of his 
brother, Lord Seymour. This brilliant courtier had prevailed 
upon Queen Catherine (§ 266) to marry him in the early 
days of her widowhood; and after her death, he had the 
presumption to pay his addresses to the Princess Elizabeth. 
He openly opposed his brother's authority, and gathered 
about himself a powerful party of noblemen. The Earl of 
Warwick — son of that Dudley who served Henry VII. so 
dishonorably (§ 242) — made all the mischief he could be- 
tween the brothers, hoping to ruin both and raise himself. 
At length, Seymour was attainted of high treason, and exe- 
cuted on Tower Hill, March, 1549. 

271. Somerset himself did not long keep his high place. 
His proceedings against the Romish worship offended a great 
mass of the people. The new proprietors of the abbey lands 
were harder landlords than the monks had been ; and as most 
of them spent their incomes in London, many a country 
region missed its ever-flowing fountain of charity. No doubt 
many paupers were reclaimed to honest industry ; but sudden 
and sweeping changes always involve suffering. Riots broke 
out in several counties. They were sternly suppressed by 
the Earl of Warwick, who thereby increased his fame and 
power. Somerset was deprived of all his offices, imprisoned, 
and heavily fined. Three years afterward he was again ar- 
rested, tried for treason, and beheaded on Tower Hill. 

272. Warwick was now at the head of affairs. His ambi- 
tion knew no bounds. Not content with obtaining from the 



A. D. I553-] LADY JANE GREY. 145 

King the vast earldom of Northumberland and the title of 
duke, he desired to raise his descendants to the throne. 
The young King's health was declining. Northumberland, 
who had gained his entire confidence, persuaded him to de- 
prive his two sisters (§§ 253, 258) of their succession to the 
crown, and declare his cousin, Lady Jane Grey,* the lawful 
heir. It was true that the two royal princesses had, at differ- 
ent times, been expressly excluded from the hope of suc- 
cession; but it was also true that Parliament had annulled 
this exclusion, and granted King Henry VIII. the power of 
naming his heirs. 

273. Another essential part of Northumberland's scheme 
was the marriage of his own son, Guilford Dudley, with the 
Lady Jane. This being completed, Edward's health declined 
more rapidly than ever. Northumberland removed all his 
physicians, and committed him to the care of an ignorant 
woman who promised a wonderful and speedy cure. Under 
her treatment he died, in the sixteenth year of his age and 
the seventh of his reign. England sincerely mourned this 
amiable boy, whose childish virtues had excited hopes of a 
happy reign. 

274. Before his death was suffered to be known, North- 
umberland sent a message to the Princess Mary, desiring 
her presence during her brother's last hours. His plan was 
to have her within his own control. But Mary was oppor- 
tunely warned; and, retiring into Suffolk, sent orders to the 
Council to proclaim her queen. Northumberland could no 
longer delay his desperate attempt. With great difficulty he 
prevailed upon his daughter-in-law to be crowned. She plead 
the better claim of her cousins Mary and Elizabeth, or even 



* Jane Grey was a granddaughter of Mary, Duchess of Suffolk 
($ 246), sister of King Henry VIII. Queen Mary of Scotland was 
granddaughter of Henry's elder sister, Margaret; but he had by his 
will excluded her heirs, and placed the children of his youngest and 
favorite sister next after his own. (See Table, p. 150.) 
Eng.— IC 



f46 HOUSE OF TUDOR. [A. D. 1553. 



the Queen of Scots; but the combined persuasions of her 
father, her father-in-law, and her husband overcame her scru- 
ples. She was proclaimed in London, and for 
ten days a small circle of immediate dependents 
regarded her as their queen. But the people dreaded the 
bold ambition of Northumberland, though they loved the 
gentle lady forced into treason against her will; and when 
Mary Tudor arrived in the ' capital, she was received with 
joyful demonstrations of loyalty. Her sister came to meet 
her with a thousand horsemen, whom she had mustered in 
support of their common cause. 

275. Northumberland and two of his accomplices in the 
treason were tried, condemned, and executed. The youth 
and innocence of Lady Jane and her husband saved their 
lives for a time. Associating all the wrongs and sorrows of 
her childhood with the Protestant movement, it is not strange 
that Queen Mary had derived from her unhappy mother a 
fervent zeal for the Catholic Church, and a fierce prejudice 
against the Reformers. Her first Parliament was opened 
with a Latin mass, though this was contrary to laws still in 
force; and the same assembly repealed all the statutes of 
King Edward concerning religion. 

276. The Queen by her own authority restored Gardiner, 
Bonner, Tonstall, and others who had been deprived of their 
bishoprics by her brother's council, and threw the Archbishop 
of York and five other prelates into prison. All clergymen 
were ordered to abstain from preaching, until each should 
receive a special license from her government ; and a large 
number were deprived of their livings. She sent ambassadors 
to the Pope, assuring him of her desire to restore her kingdom 
to its old allegiance to Rome. 

277. As soon as the Emperor Charles heard that his cousin 
was now Queen of England, he sent to propose to her a 
marriage with his son Philip; and though nearly all her 
counselors opposed the match, Mary willingly consented. 



A. D. 1554.] MARY AND PHILIP. 147 

Few of all the foreign marriages of her sovereigns had been 
to the advantage of England; and the wisest Englishmen 
especially dreaded the enormous power of Spain, whose king 
already governed Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands, and 
was believed to be aiming at universal empire. Sir Thomas 
Wyatt and others even organized a rebellion, with the design 
to place Lady Jane Grey upon the throne. It failed; and 
that guiltless lady, with her husband and her father, now 
suffered the extreme penalty of treason. 

278. King* Philip arrived and was married at Winchester 
in July, 1554. His cold and reserved demeanor did not 
lessen the dislike which had been felt toward the marriage; 
though a long train of wagon-loads of Spanish gold and 
silver, which preceded him into London, may have wrought 
a change among the favored few. Upon one point alone 
the Queen and her husband were perfectly agreed, — the 
restoration of the Catholic Church, with all its claims and 
usages. The Queen's cousin, Cardinal Pole, arrived in 
England as papal legate, and was welcomed with great 
solemnity by Parliament. To his invitation to reconcile 
themselves and the kingdom with the ancient Church, both 
Houses replied with compliant addresses; and 

Nov., 1554. 

then Lords and Commons, all on their knees, 
received absolution and forgiveness, in the Pope's name, for 
the sin of the nation in asserting its independence, and were 
received back into the bosom of the Church. 

279. Cardinal Pole was a man of gentle and Christian 
disposition; and while helping to restore ancient usages, he 
constantly besought mercy toward the unreconciled. But the 
temper of Philip and Mary inclined them rather toward the 
harsh counsels of Gardiner, who committed to the flames 
England's most holy and venerable men. Within three 



* He had recently been made King of Naples, that his rank might 
equal that of his bride. 



148 HOUSE OF TUDOR. [A. D. 1555. 

years, two hundred and seventy-seven persons were burnt to 
death, beside multitudes who suffered fines, imprisonments, 
and lesser penalties. No regular form of trial was observed : 
victims were arrested on suspicion; and if they refused to 
sign certain articles, were at once condemned to death. Five 
bishops, twenty-one clergymen, private gentlemen, tradesmen, 
farmers, servants, and day-laborers, with fifty-five women and 
four children, made up the dismal list. Two good bishops, 
Ridley and Latimer, suffered together in Oxford. Tied to 
the stake and surrounded by the blazing fagots, Latimer ex- 
claimed, "Be of good cheer, Brother Ridley; we shall this 
day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I 
trust shall never be put out." 

280. Highest in rank, though not in character, of all the 
victims, was Archbishop Cranmer. The Queen hated him 
for having dissolved the marriage of her parents, and he was 
already justly imprisoned for the part he had taken in pro- 
claiming Lady Jane Grey ; but the court, wishing to dishonor 
him before the people, chose to try him for heresy rather 
than for treason. He was sentenced to death; but in his 
prison messengers came to him, offering the continuance of 
all his honors and dignities, on condition of his recanting his 
heretical doctrines. In a moment of weakness the old man 
yielded, and put his name to a paper affirming the Pope's 
supremacy in England, and acknowledging the Real Presence 
in the wafer of the communion. 

This humiliation was in vain : he was required to repeat 
his recantation in public, and then be carried to execution. 
In the prospect of death his strength returned. He bewailed 
the greatest error of his life, that of admitting through cow- 
ardice what he knew to be false; and declared that as his 
right hand had been the instrument of offense, it should first 
be consumed in the flames. He was burned at Oxford, and 
Cardinal Pole became Archbishop of Canterbury in his place. 

281 Philip, disgusted by the enmity and suspicion he in- 



A- D. 1558.] DEATH OF MARY. 149 

spired, and wearied of his wife's jealous fondness, departed 
to Flanders. By his father's abdication, he was now made 
Lord of the Netherlands, King of Spain, and master of all 
the treasures of the newly discovered American Continent. 
He was soon involved in a war with France, in which he 
demanded his wife's aid. Mary warmly favored his plans, 
but Parliament and people, as well as her wisest counselors, 
as strenuously opposed them. The Queen succeeded in send- 
ing to Flanders an army of 10,000 men; and England had 
all the loss with none of the gain or glory of the campaign. 
Calais, " the brightest jewel in her crown," — the last remain- 
ing trophy of Edward III. (§§ 180, 181), — was surprised 
and taken by the Duke of Guise. The people were enraged 
at the loss of their last foothold on the Continent; and the 
poor Queen, now pining away with illness and her husband's 
neglect, declared that after her death ' ' Calais " would be 
found written on her heart. 

282. Vexation of mind, added to feebleness of body, threw 
her into a fever of which she died, Nov., 1558, after a reign 
of five years. It is impossible not to pity this unhappy queen, 
even while we record her fatal errors. She was a kind mis- 
tress to her immediate household; and her savage persecu- 
tions sprang from a mistaken sense of duty. Her Spanish 
grandmother, Isabella, whom Americans revere as the mu- 
nificent patroness of Columbus, caused or consented to the 
murder of a far greater number of her subjects for conscience' 
sake. It is the contrast of the bigotry of that age with the 
freedom which England has ever since enjoyed, that lends 
the blackest shades to the short and disastrous reign of Mary. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Edward VI. being a minor, his uncle is Protector of the Kingdom. 
Somerset establishes the Reformed Church of England; invades Scot- 
land; Queen Mary is sent to France. Seymour, becoming too ambi- 
tious, is beheaded. Discontent of the people with sudden religious 



i5° 



HOUSE OF TUDOR. 



changes. Fall and execution of Somerset. Earl of Warwick gains 
power; becomes Duke of Northumberland ; plots to place his daughter- 
in-law upon the throne. Upon death of Edward, Lady Jane Grey is 
proclaimed, and reigns ten days over a small court. 

Mary Tudor is crowned ; Northumberland is beheaded for treason. 
Mary restores Romish bishops and clergy ; marries her cousin Philip 
of Spain. Popular hatred of the match occasions Wyatt's rebellion 
and Jane Grey's death. Cardinal Pole brings the Pope's pardon and 
reconciliation ; counsels mercy, but the Queen persecutes relentlessly. 
Ridley, Latimer, and Cranmer are burnt at Oxford. Philip drags 
England into war with France, in which Calais is lost. Mary dies 
after five years' reign. 

Read : Hallam's Constitutional History of England, Vol. i ; Free- 
man's Groruth of the English Constitution ; Froude's History of England, 
Vols, v, vi ; first 20 pps. of Macaulay's History of England ; Forster's 
Biographical and Historical Essays, Vol. i; Dixon's History of the 
Church of England. 



Descendants of Henry Seventh. 



Henky VII. 

I 



Margaret, mar. i, mar. ■?., Earl of Angus. Henry VIII., Mary, mar. 2 



James IV. of Scotland 

I 
James V. of Scotland. 

I 
Mary, Queen of Scots, 
beheaded, 1587. 

I 



I 

Margaret m. 
Earl of Lennox. 

I 
m. 2, Henry Stuart, 
Lord Darnley. 

I 



James VI. of 
Scotland and 
James I. of 
England. (Seep. 206.) 



Charles, Duke of Suffolk. 

Frances, mar. 

Henry Grey, D. of Suffolk. 

Jane Grey. 



■ . I I 

Catherine of Aragon. m. 2, Anne Boleyn. m. 3, Jane Seymour. 

I I I 

Mary m. Elizabeth. Edward VI. 

Philip of Spain. 



V. REIGN OF ELIZABETH. 



ILIZABETH (A. D. 1558-1603) came 
to the throne amid an outburst of 
popular delight, which was undis- 
guised even by decent respect for 
Queen Mary's unhappy memory. 
The new Queen was twenty-five 
years of age, and to her mother's 
beauty and gaiety of disposition 
added her father's frank and hearty 
address, no less than his energetic 
intellect, dauntless courage, and 
imperious will. She was an ac- 
complished scholar and a fine 
musician, while she loved the 
healthful sports of archery and 
horsemanship. 

284. England was reduced to 
the deepest humiliation, through 
defeat abroad and misgovernment 
at home ; but Europe soon felt 
that a strong hand was again at her helm. Elizabeth called 
the wisest men to her councils, of whom Bacon, Walsingham, 
and Burleigh enjoyed the greatest measure of her confidence. 
Her first Parliament re-enacted all the laws of Edward VI. 
concerning religion (§ 268), and made the Church of England 
nearly what it is to-day. The Act of Supremacy required all 
bishops, clergy, and officers of the crown to take an oath 
acknowledging the Queen as head of the Church; and the 
Act of Uniformity forbade all religious services except those 
established by law. All the bishops but one refused the oath, 

(150 




Sir Walter Raleigh. 



152 



HOUSE OF TUDOR. 



[A. D. 1559- 



and were removed from their sees.; but the parish priests, 
with few exceptions, accepted the new order. The Scriptures 
were ordered to be read and prayers offered in the English 
tongue. Six great Bibles were placed in different parts of 
St. Paul's Cathedral; and these were always surrounded by 
an eager crowd, whenever a reader could be found. 

285. Philip of Spain no sooner heard of his wife's death 
than he proposed to marry her sister. But Elizabeth too 
well knew the aversion of her people to the Spanish match; 
and, besides, she was now in the same relation to Philip that 
her father had been to Catherine of Aragon upon the death 
of his brother Arthur (§§ 241, 253). The very ground of 
her mother's claim as wife, and her own as queen, was the 




Crown Piece. 



decision that such a marriage was unlawful. Not willing, 
however, to offend the greatest monarch in Christendom, 
she returned a polite but evasive answer, and soon afterward 
announced to Parliament her determination to live and die 
unmarried. And though many royal and princely suitors 
sought her hand at various times, Elizabeth never wavered 
long from this decision. 

286. Important changes were taking place in Scotland: 
the Reformation was rapidly advancing, and the reformers 



A. D. 1 56 1.] REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND. 153 



had leagued themselves under the name of the "Congrega- 
tion." Their Queen was now wife of the Dauphin, who, by 
his father's death in 1559, became King Francis II. of France. 
The young sovereigns bore upon their arms and equipage the 
title of "King and Queen of England," as well as "of France 
and Scotland " ; and it was evident that they would seize the 
first occasion to dispute Elizabeth's title to the crown she 
wore. In 1559, the "Lords of the Congregation," encour- 
aged by Elizabeth, ordered all French troops to quit Scotland ; 
and required Mary of Guise, the Queen's mother, to resign 
the regency. Elizabeth's fleet and army besieged and capt- 
ured Leith; and in the treaty which followed, the French 
king and queen were compelled to renounce all pretension 
to the English crown. The reformers were now supreme in 
Scotland. Mass was abolished, and the kingdom threw off 
its allegiance to the Pope. 

287. Queen Mary's widowhood soon followed her eleva- 
tion to the French throne, and she then resolved to return 
to her native land. But she came as a French- 
woman, — gay, brilliant, accomplished, and loving 

the elegant dissipations of Paris, — quite indisposed to favor 
the severe manners now prevalent in Scotland. For the 
Scotch reformers, absorbed in their stern combat with Rom- 
ish doctrines, had no .tolerance for even the most innocent 
practices associated with those doctrines. Queen Mary sin- 
cerely desired to unite all parties in Scotland against both 
French and English influence. She gave her confidence to 
the reformers, and commanded her people to attend Prot- 
estant worship; but, loving the rites in which she had been 
educated, she insisted upon having mass said in her private 
chapel. This was abomination in the eyes of the reformers, 
especially of John Knox, who had returned from Geneva full 
of zeal for the doctrines of Calvin, and who now denounced 
the Queen as Jezebel, and her priests as ministers of Satan. 

288. To unite all the Catholic forces in the two kingdoms, 



154 HOUSE OF TUDOR. [A. D. 1565. 

Mary suddenly married her cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darn- 
ley, who was next heir, after herself, to the crowns of both 
Scotland and England. (See Table, p. 150.) He was a weak- 
minded and dissolute youth; and as soon as the Queen per- 
ceived his worthlessness, she attempted to limit the power 
and revenues which she had most lavishly bestowed upon 
him. Darnley looked for revenge; and, breaking into the 
Queen's presence with a crowd of young nobles, he mur- 
dered her Italian secretary, Rizzio, before her eyes. 

From that moment Mary hated her husband more than 
she had before despised him. Her chief confidant was the 
Earl of Bothwell, a bold, bad man, by whose contrivance 
the house in which Darnley was sleeping was blown up by 
gunpowder, and he was slain. The dark suspicion which 
fell upon the Queen was by no means lightened when she 
allowed herself to be carried away by Bothwell, and became 
his wife scarcely three mouths from her husband's death. 
She had now wholly lost the respect of her people. The 
chief nobles met for the defense of the kingdom ; sent the 
Queen under guard to Lochleven Castle, and compelled her 
to resign the crown in favor of her infant son, James, — her 
half-brother, the Earl of Murray, being regent. 

289. James the Sixth was crowned at Stirling, July 29, 
1567, being then thirteen months old. His mother soon 
escaped from her prison, and raised an army with which she 
met the forces of the Regent near Glasgow. She was de- 
feated and fled into England, asking either a passage to 
France or aid in regaining her throne. To Elizabeth's de- 
mand that the grave charges against her character should 
first be cleared away, Mary replied that she would gladly 
submit her cause to the arbitration of so good a friend. En- 
glish commissioners were appointed by Elizabeth to examine 
the charges made by the Regent, Murray, with the evidence 
supposed to be derived from Mary's own letters. But 
the Scottish Queen, instead of attempting to disprove this 



A. D. 1 58 1.] MARY A PRISONER. 155 

evidence, threw herself upon her sovereign rights and refused 
to make answer before any secular tribunal. 

290. She was accordingly held as a prisoner, and made good 
her word that her captors " should have enough to do with 
her." She became the center of innumerable plots against the 
government and the life of Elizabeth. The Pope declared 
the English Queen destitute of all title to the crown, and 
released her subjects from their obedience. Now, as Mary 
would be Queen of England if Elizabeth was not, this was a 
bold step in Mary's cause. Forced to it by her enemies, 
Elizabeth became the ally of the Huguenots in France and 
the burghers of the Netherlands, whose freedom and prosper- 
ity King Philip's generals were exterminating with fire and 
sword. When Antwerp, the chief market and banking center 
of Europe, was taken and destroyed, one-third of its manu- 
facturers and merchants removed to London, which rose at 
once to the foremost rank among commercial cities. 

291. To strike a deadly blow at the power of Philip, 
Francis Drake, a bold English seaman, was permitted to 
cruise along the coasts of the Spanish colonies in America, 
and waylay the treasure-laden galleons which sailed yearly 
from Lima to Cadiz. This was piracy, for Philip and Eliza- 
beth were nominally at peace ; but it was amply offset by 
Philip's secret plots. Students in the English colleges of 
Douay and Rheims were taught that the murder of heretical 
sovereigns, especially of Elizabeth, was a meritorious action ; 
and that whoever should lose his life in such an attempt, 
would be certain of eternal bliss. 

The Prince of Orange, the great deliverer of the northern 
Netherlands, was assassinated by Philip's agent; and Eliza- 
beth well knew that many a dagger was sharpened for her 
destruction. Campian, a Jesuit, was detected in a plot against 
her life, and executed in 1581. All Jesuits and "seminary 
priests " were banished on pain of death ; and no fewer than 
two hundred are said to have been executed on the charge 



T5 6 HOUSE OF TUDOR. [A. D. 1587. 

of "pretending to the power of absolving subjects from their 
allegiance." 

292. Five years later, a much more widely spread conspir- 
acy came to light, and commissioners were appointed to 
ascertain Queen Mary's share in it. As before, her letters 
were the chief witnesses; nor was it possible to resist the 
evidence of her guilt. She was condemned and executed at 

Fotherineay Castle, in the forty-fifth year of her 

Feb. 8, 1587. . 3 J 

age and the nineteenth of her captivity. Elizabeth 
violently blamed her councillors for unseemly haste in exe- 
cuting the death-warrant ; but if her grief and rage had been 
even more sincere, the Council would have been firm. There 
was no peace or safety for England so long as the Queen of 
Scots existed within its bounds. 

293. The judgment of this great cause has been much af- 
fected by the personal differences between the two queens. 
Mary added to her extraordinary beauty a grace of manner 
which fascinated not only all who saw her, but almost all 
who have read her romantic history. Elizabeth was a great 
sovereign, but a coarse, vain, and disagreeable woman. Nev- 
ertheless, Providence had made her the champion of progress, 
freedom, and enlightenment, while her lovely cousin, however 
little she may have perceived the fact, was the representative 
of an iron despotism. If English freedom, rather than the 
soul-crushing tyranny of Spain, was to become the leading 
principle in Europe, the death of Mary Stuart was a state 
necessity. 

294. Meanwhile England, under Elizabeth's thrifty rule, 
was enjoying unexampled prosperity. The debts of the 
crown were honestly paid, and the expenses of the govern- 
ment were met by the regular revenues, without taxation. 
Commerce flourished : both the navy and the merchant 
marine were immensely increased ; and fisheries, not only in 
European but American waters, afforded employment to 
multitudes of active and turbulent spirits which had been the 



A. D. 1588.] THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA. 157 



terror of former governments. English vessels penetrated 
the frozen seas to the northward, discovered the port of 
Archangel, and opened trade with Russia. Southampton 
merchants grew rich by their traffic in African ivory and 
gold ; and John Hawkins conceived the bold idea of trans- 
porting laborers from the populous coasts of Guinea to the 
unplowed soil of the New World. The slave-trade has been 
justly condemned by the enlightened humanity of our age; 
but in those days even philanthropists encouraged it, as a 
means of relieving the feeble natives of America, who were 
perishing by thousands from their unwonted toils under 
Spanish overseers. 

295. Philip of Spain was preparing to avenge the death 
of Mary and assert the claim, which she had bequeathed 
him, to the English crown. Drake was sent to watch the 
Spanish coasts, where he burned more than a hundred ships, 
and destroyed great magazines of stores intended for the in- 
vasion. Meanwhile, every English town was raising men 
and ships for the defense : nobles and common people, Pro- 
testant and Catholic, — with whom love of country was more 
than love of Church,— worked together with zeal and energy; 
and the indomitable spirit of their Queen inspired them all. 

296. On the 19th of July, 1588, the Invincible Armada of 
the Spaniards made its appearance in the English seas. It 
extended seven miles from wing to wing, and its great galleons 
exceeded in size any vessels that had yet been seen in Europe. 
Lord Howard of Effingham sailed forth to follow it, with 
fewer and smaller ships; but his men knew the coast, and 
their bravery was not to be surpassed. The Armada sailed 
slowly up the Channel,— harassed at every point by the light 
and well-managed craft of the English, who "plucked its 
feathers one by one,"— and waited near Calais for the Span- 
ish army which was to have joined it from the Netherlands. 

Lord Howard now resolved upon closer fighting. Eight 
fire-ships were floated by night into the midst of the Armada, 



I5 8 HOUSE OF TUDOR. [A. D. 1588. 

which separated in a fright, and drifted with the wind in a 
wavering line along the coast. With earliest dawn the battle 
began, and lasted until sunset. The advantage was with the 
English, whose speed was double that of their clumsy foes, 
and who could fire four shots to the Spaniards' one. 

297. Humiliated and helpless, the Spanish commanders 
could only resolve upon retreat; but, under a strong south 
wind, this must be effected by passing around the British 
Islands. Among the Orkneys a furious tempest burst upon 
them, and multitudes of vessels were dashed to pieces upon 
the rocky coasts. Only a tattered and miserable remnant of 
the Invincible Armada re-entered the Spanish ports. 

The war was carried on for some years by a host of 
privateers under the Queen's commission. At one time the 
English forces plundered and burned Cadiz; and the Span- 
ish treasure-fleets often fell into English hands. A second 
Armada, in 1597, was shattered by storms. Philip had to 
content himself with stirring up rebellions in Ireland. 

298. That restless country, though nominally a possession 
of the English crown since Henry II., was but partly sub- 
dued. The "English Pale," as it was called, included only 
Drogheda, Dublin, Wexford, Waterford, and Cork, with a 
small extent of territory around each. Henry VIII. had, 
indeed, made his strong hand felt throughout the island, 
humbling both the Norman and the Celtic chiefs who had 
assumed almost royal power, and demolishing their castles ; 
but his attempt to "make Ireland English," by forbidding 
the use of the national dress, language, laws, and social cus- 
toms, ended in failure ; while his proceedings in Church 
affairs went far to unite the whole country in defense of the 
monasteries and the shrines of the saints. 

299. The disorders which had existed throughout Eliza- 
beth's reign came to their most violent outbreak in "Tyrone's 
Rebellion." That chief had been educated at the English 
court, and had been placed by its power at the head of the 



A. D. 1603.] DEATH OF ELIZABETH. 159 

great clan of O'Neill, in a contest with a rival chieftain. 
But once master of the north of Ireland, he defied the power 
that had raised him, and maintained his resistance for several 
years. By defeating an English army at Blackwater, in 1598, 
he gained an ample supply of arms and ammunition. 

300. The Earl of Essex, now Elizabeth's chief favorite, 
was sent to put down the rebellion. He failed; and his in- 
solence in returning home contrary to her command, dis- 
pleased the Queen even more than his ill success. The 
quarrel rose to such a height, that Essex entered into trea- 
sonable correspondence with the King of Scots, and tried to 
stir up a riot in London. He was thrown into 

prison; and, after long and painful vacillation 

on the Queen's part, he was beheaded on Tower Hill. 

Elizabeth had given him a ring in happier days, assuring 
him that, whatever changes might occur, it would always be 
a passport to her favor. She waited in vain for the return 
of this ring ; and, at length, her offended pride, both as sov- 
ereign and as friend, led her to sign the death-warrant. A 
year or two later, a lady of the court confessed, when dying, 
that she had received the ring from Essex to present to the 
Queen, but that, under her husband's commands, she had 
withheld it. Elizabeth shook the dying Countess in her bed, 
and cried out in a rage, " God may forgive you, but I never 
can ! " Then burying herself in her palace, she fell into a 
deep melancholy from which she never recovered. Though 
the Irish rebellion was subdued by Lord Mountjoy, and the 
Spaniards were many times defeated, she took no heed, and 
died in the seventieth year of her age and the forty-fifth of 
her reign. 

301. "The spacious times of great Elizabeth" will ever be 
remembered as a most brilliant literary era. Men's minds 
were stimulated to fresh thought by the opening of "new 
heavens and a new earth." For while Kepler and Galileo 
were familiarizing the grand discoveries of Copernicus con- 



160 HOUSE OF TUDOR. 

cerning the solar and stellar systems, bold explorers were 
bringing home equally new and marvelous descriptions of 
the unknown regions of our own globe: — the frosty splen- 
dors of the arctic zone ; the barbaric wealth of Mexico and 
Peru; the jeweled magnificence of imperial courts in India 
or China; the tropical verdure of islands in hitherto unex- 
plored oceans. The bonds which had fettered human thought 
and enterprise were broken. 

302. The English language reached its perfection in the 
strong prose of Hooker, the musical verse of Spenser, and, 
above all, in the multiform pictures of human character 
wrought by Shakespeare into his wonderful plays. Every 
man was inspired to do his best. The voyages of Frobisher, 
Drake, Cavendish, and Raleigh; the philosophy of Bacon; 
the wise statesmanship of Robert Cecil, Walsingham, and 
Burleigh, all shed their luster upon the reign of the maiden 
Queen. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Unbounded popularity of Elizabeth. Her great statesmen. Prot- 
estant Church re-established. Her refusal to marry. Mary of Scot- 
land calls herself Queen of England ; returning to Scotland, offends 
reformers, whose influence is supreme; marries Henry Darnley; con- 
nives at his murder; is imprisoned and made to abdicate. Her son 
is crowned. Mary, defeated, flees to England; is held prisoner. 
Catholic party in Europe, with Philip of Spain at their head, plot 
her release and enthronement. Elizabeth thus becomes head of Eu- 
ropean Protestants. Drake preys upon Spanish commerce. Philip 
hires assassins to kill Elizabeth. Queen Mary is beheaded at Fother- 
ingay. Enterprise and prosperity of England. Invincible Armada 
defeated by English bravery and destroyed by tempests. Discontents 
in Ireland. Tyrone's rebellion. Essex fails to put it down ; becomes 
a rebel in his turn ; is imprisoned and executed. Elizabeth's grief 
and death. The grandeur of her times. 

In defense of Mary Stuart, read Hosack's Mary, Queen of Scots, and 
her Accusers ; and (in French) Prince Labanoff's 8 volumes^ the most 
complete of all sources of information. 



QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW. 
PART III. 



1. What events marked the beginning of the Modern Era? % 233-236 

2. Describe the two rebellions against Henry VII. 237-239 

3. What proofs of Henry's love of money ? 240-243 

4. Describe the character of Henry VIII. at his accession. 244, 245 

5. How did it change before his death ? 266, 267 

6. What two widowed queens were his sisters? 246 

7. Tell the story of Wolsey. 247, 248, 250, 251, 253-255 

8. Describe the greatness and policy of Charles V. 249-252 

9. State the question concerning Henry's first marriage. 

241, 245, 253, 254, 256 

10. What changes were made by Parliament of 1529? 257, 25S 

11. Describe Henry's dealings with the monasteries. 259, 260 

12. Tell the story of Anne Boleyn. 253, 258, 261 

13. Tell of Henry's third, fourth, and fifth marriages. 261-263 

14. Describe the administration of Thomas Cromwell. 260, 262 

15. Describe Henry's dealings with Scotland. 246, 264 

16. His wars with France. 245, 252, 265 

17. What was done during the minority of Edward VI.? 268-273 

18. Describe Northumberland's scheme and his death. 272-275 

19. The accession and character of Mary Tudor. 274, 275 

20. Her policy toward the Church. 276, 278-280 

21. Tell the story of Cranmer. 256, 278, 280. 

22. Of Mary's marriage and its effects upon England. 

277, 278, 281 

23. Describe the character and policy of Elizabeth. 

283-286, 290, 293, 294 

24. Tell the history of the Church of England. 268, 276, 278-280, 284 

25. Of the Reformation in Scotland. 269, 286, 287 

26. Of Mary Stuart. 264, 269, 286-293 

27. Of Philip's Armada. 295-297 

28. Of the disorders in Ireland. 298-300 

29. Who were the great men of Elizabeth's time ? 301, 302 

Eng.— 11. (161) 



PART IV.-THE CENTURY OF 
REVOLUTIONS. 



I. ACCESSION OF THE HOUSE OF STUART. 




ING James VI. of Scotland, and 
now I. of England (A. D. 1603- 
1625), had been educated by the 
Reformers ; and though the English 
Catholics expected him to favor 
them for his mother's sake, he de- 
clared his purpose to execute all 
the laws of Elizabeth with regard to 
religion. His accession was shortly 
followed by three rebellious con- 
spiracies, — one aiming to place 
Arabella Stuart, the King's cousin, 
upon the throne ; another, to im- 
prison the King and remodel the 
government; and a third, to blow 
up the Parliament Houses, by means 
of powder in their vaults, at a mo- 
ment when lords and commons, 
with the whole royal family, would 
be assembled to hear the King's speech. 



Gunpowder Plot. 



304. In the first, Sir Walter Raleigh was accused of having 
part. He was imprisoned twelve years upon the unproved 
(162) 



A. D. 1604.] JAMES AND THE PURITANS. 163 



charge, and beguiled the gloom of his captivity by writing 
his " History of the World." He was released, but not par- 
doned, in 1616, only that he might command a difficult and 
dangerous expedition against Guiana, where, it was hoped, 
gold enough might be found to enrich the whole court. But 
James treacherously informed the King of Spain of the sailing 
of the squadron. Raleigh was defeated, with the loss of his 
son and his entire fortune ; and returned only to lay his head 
upon the block, and suffer the long delayed sentence which 
the King had ungenerously kept hanging over him. Thus 
perished the last of Elizabeth's great captains, unhappy to 
have lived into a reign where genius like his h'ad no place. 

305. The "gunpowder plot" of the disappointed Catholic 
party was discovered on the eve of its execution, and Guy 
Fawkes, its chief agent, was put to death. The King's acute- 
ness in discerning the danger from a few mysterious hints, 
gave him the name of a second Solomon. He prided him- 
self upon his learning; and though his slovenly person, 
shambling gait, undignified manner, drunkenness, and buf- 
foonery made him the most unkingly of all kings, he exacted 
worship, as the "Lord's Anointed," from all who entered 
his presence. He held an idea, wholly new to England, of 
the "divine right" and absolute power of the sovereign, — 
frankly declaring in the Star Chamber, "As it is atheism 
and blasphemy to dispute what God can do, so it is high 
contempt in a subject to dispute what a king can do, or to 
say that the king can not do this or that." 

306. In religious matters he was especially arbitrary. The 
mass of the English nation was now "Puritan," — that is, 
while belonging to the established Church, it disapproved of 
many ceremonies which had been retained in the service, and 
desired a return to the simple usages described in the New 
Testament, together with a stricter observance of the Sabbath 
and a more serious tone of manners. But James rejected the 
petition of eight hundred clergymen to these ends, and in* 



T64 CENTURY OF REVOLUTIONS. [A. D. 1604. 

suited the Puritan divines whom he had admitted to a con- 
ference at Hampton Court, by a frivolous display of his 
learning, and by brutal expressions of contempt for their 
grave remonstrances. Parliament and people stood manfully 
for their rights. "Your Majesty would be misinformed," 
said the Commons, ' ' if any man should deliver that the 
kings of England have absolute power in themselves to alter 
religion, or to make any laws concerning the same, otherwise 
than, as in temporal causes, by consent of Parliament." 

307. The Separatists, or Independents, differed from the 
Puritans in withdrawing wholly from the established worship. 
One of their congregations, expecting no indulgence at home, 
passed over to Holland, — that brave little republic which had 
just wrested its freedom from the iron hand of Spain, and 
now offered a friendly asylum to all who were oppressed. 
But the Pilgrims were English at heart, and desired to live 
under the laws and educate their children in the language of 
their fathers. They resolved, therefore, to found a state in 
the American forests; and after infinite sufferings and toils, 
their high purpose was accomplished. 

308. The reign of James is most honorably marked as the 
era of colonization. The north of Ireland, desolated by Ty- 
rone's rebellion, became the home of thousands of industrious 
settlers from Scotland. The East India Company's charter 
was renewed, and its first factory planted at Surat, in 161 2. 
Two associations, known respectively as the Plymouth and 
the London Company, were chartered in 1606, "for planting 
and ruling New England in America." The King's name 
was given to Jamestown, in Virginia, the first English town 

within the present limit of the United States. 

May, 1607. 

An idle and dissolute crowd of adventurers has- 
tened thither, hoping to repair their ruined fortunes by un- 
bounded discoveries of gold. They were disappointed; and 
the colony, during its first years, was only saved from de- 
struction by the. good sense and energy of Captain John 



A. D. 1621.] PILGRIMS AT PLYMOUTH. 165 

Smith, who insisted that "nothing was to be expected but 
by labor." " Men fell to building houses and planting corn," 
and the settlement began to flourish. 

309. After a few years' residence in Holland (§ 307), the 
Separatists, or Pilgrims, obtained a grant of lands from the 
Virginia Company, and settled, in 1620, on the rock-bound 
coast of Massachusetts. Though half their company of pio- 
neers fell victims to the hardships of the first terrible winter 
and the hostility of the savages, the Pilgrims steadily sur- 
mounted all obstacles, and their moral strength entered 
largely into the character of New England. 

310. All Europe had long been agitated by the great 
religious conflict which, in 16 18, resulted in the "Thirty 
Years' War." Bohemia chose Frederic, the Elector-palatine, 
who had married a daughter of James L, to be her king, in 
opposition to the Austrian Ferdinand II., who was also em- 
peror. His wife's ambition led Frederic to accept the dan- 
gerous honor, contrary to his best friends' counsels; for she 
declared that, as a king's daughter, she would rather starve 
at a royal table than feast at that of an elector. But Frederic 
could neither fight his own battles nor obtain aid from his 
connections. The English Parliament would willingly have 
voted funds to maintain the Protestant interests ; but James 
cared more for the "divine right" of the Austrian despot 
than for the outraged consciences of his people. He con- 
sented to help maintain his son-in-law's inherited dominions, 
but not to further his possession of Bohemia. The new King 
was totally defeated near Prague, and lost not only his new 
kingdom but his old electorate. His family were compelled 
to beg their bread at foreign courts. 

311. The English Commons were justly indignant at this 
disgrace, and the King made use of their excitement to de- 
mand a large sum of money for the more vigorous prosecution 
of the war. It was granted without demur ; and the House 
then proceeded to examine various wrongs and grievances. 



166 CENTURY OF REVOLUTION'S. [A. D. 1621. 

The great Chancellor, Lord Bacon, — the first philosopher of 
his age, and among the first of all ages, — was found to have 
accepted gifts from suitors in his Court of Chancery — an 
intolerable stain on the honor of his high office and of the 
nation. He was condemned to a fine of $200,000, to im- 
prisonment in the Tower, and to perpetual exclusion from 
office. The King soon remitted his fine and imprisonment, 
but the disgrace could never be removed from a name which 
would otherwise have shone among the brightest in English 
records. 

312. The freedom of the Commons offended the King, 
who sharply told them that their powers were derived from 
the gracious permission of his ancestors, and that he would 
maintain their lawful liberties only so long as they kept within 
the limits of their duty. Undismayed, the representatives of 
the people replied that ' ' the liberties, franchises, privileges, 
and jurisdictions of Parliament are the ancient and undoubted 
birthright and inheritance of the subjects of England." The 

King sent for the "Journals of the House, and 

Dec, 1621. . , , . , 

with his own hand tore out the pages containing 
this manly protest ; he then dissolved the Parliament in great 
wrath ; but within two years, want of money forced him to 
call for a new election. It was fortunate for the people that 
James's wasteful government spent more money even in peace 
than Elizabeth had ever spent in war; for his necessities 
threw him into ever-increasing dependence upon the Parlia- 
ment. 

313. The King's weakness was shown in his choice of 
favorites. The first was Robert Can*, a handsome but ig- 
norant youth, for whose benefit the doting sovereign became 
a schoolmaster, giving him daily lessons in Latin and in 
•'king-craft." But when remorse for a dark and revolting 
crime spoiled Can's graceful gayety, James transferred his 
affections to George Villiers, whom he raised, by successive 
promotions, to the high rank of Duke of Buckingham. This 



A. D. 1625.] ACCESSION OF CHARLES /. 167 



haughty favorite displayed himself in Parliament, his velvet 
dress blazing with diamonds, making no secret of the wealth 
which he most unrighteously attained. The only way to the 
King's favor or to public office was by bribing "Steenie," 
who accepted no small offerings. 

314. The death of Prince Henry, the King's eldest son, 
in 161 2, was a grief and a loss to the nation. The dignity 
and orderly virtue of his little court was a silent rebuke to 
the royal household. The heir to the throne was now 
"Baby Charles." Contrary to the deep feeling and long- 
cherished policy of England, James resolved to marry his 
son to a Spanish Infanta, in spite of the remonstrances not 
only of Parliament, but of all his nobles and counselors 
except the Duke of Buckingham. To please Spain, he held 
aloof from the Protestants of Germany, and allowed the 
contest for Bohemia to spread into an almost universal and 
most malignant war, while he suspended all the laws against 
popery at home. 

Prince Charles and Buckingham made a romantic visit to 
the court of Madrid to urge the suit. But the favorite's free 
and insolent manners disgusted the ceremonious circle ; and 
he foresaw that he would find no favor from a Spanish queen, 
when his young master should come to the throne. He there- 
fore turned his great influence against the match, and Charles 
was affianced to Henrietta Maria, sister of the French king. 
The breaking of the Spanish marriage was celebrated in Eng- 
land with bonfires and unlimited rejoicing. The next year, 
March, 1625, King James died, and Charles came to the 
throne. 

RECAPITULATION. 



sue- 



King James of Scotland, being nearest heir of Henry VIII., 
ceeds Elizabeth. Favors Spain and imprisons Raleigh, who is put 
to death on an unproved charge of treason. The King unravels the 
"Gunpowder Plot"; insists upon divine right and sacred majesty of 



1 68 CENTURY OF REVOLUTIONS. 

kings ; browbeats the Puritans. Colonization in Ireland and America. 
Virginia and Massachusetts founded. Thirty Years' War in Germany. 
Misfortunes of the King's son-in-law. Contentions between King and 
Parliament. Impeachment of Lord Chancellor Bacon. Insolence of 
Buckingham. Proposed "Spanish Match" for Prince Charles. His 
marriage with the French princess, Henrietta Maria. The King's 
death. 

Read : S. R. Gardiner's History of England from the Accession of 
fames I., and Prince Charles and the Spanish Marriage ; Jesse's Court 
of England under the Stuarts ; Vaughan's History of England under the 
House of Stuart, including the Commonwealth; Macau lay's essay on 
Bacon; Kingsley's Sir Walter Raleigh and his Times; Scott's Fortunes 
of Nigel ; G. P. R. James' Arabella Stuart and Heidelberg. 



II. REIGN OF CHARLES I. 




HARLES I. (A. D. 1625-1649) began 
his reign with an empty treasury, on 
the eve of a war with Spain. He 
therefore called upon Parliament for a 
supply of money. But that body was 
now composed of able men who loved 
their country, and keenly felt the dan- 
ger which threatened her. ' ' England 
is the last monarchy," said one of them, 
' ' who yet retains her liberties. Let 
them not perish now!" They granted 
the customs called "tonnage and 
poundage" for only one year, instead 
of for the life of the King ; and Charles, 
angrily dissolving them, attempted to 
raise a loan by his own authority. 
This afforded only momentary relief, 
and it offended the people more than 
it helped the King. 

316. A new Parliament, in 1626, 
impeached the Duke of Buckingham 
for incompetency and corruption. The King was even more 
controlled by the great favorite than his father had been. 
He imprisoned Sir John Eliot, whose fiery eloquence had 
advocated the impeachment; and again dissolved the Parlia- 
ment. The forced loan now called for roused the whole 
country to resistance. The King's commissioners were driven 
from the towns, with cries of " A Parliament! a Parliament! 
else no subsidies ! " Poor men were punished for their refusal 
by being drafted into the army or navy. Two hundred gen- 

(169) 



Charles the First. 



170 CENTURY OF REVOLUTIONS. [A. D. 1627. 

tlemen of fortune were imprisoned and finally brought before 
the Council. Among them was John Hampden, who declared 
that he "could be content to lend," but feared to bring upon 
himself the curse in Magna Charta (§ 152) against all who 
broke that solemn compact between sovereign and people. 
He was punished by a still more severe imprisonment. 

317. Though half Europe was now the enemy of Charles, 
and though his war against Spain had resulted in a miserable 
failure, he was rash enough, penniless and at variance with 
his people, to plunge into a new war with France. Bucking- 
ham was intrusted with an expedition in aid of the Huguenots 
of Rochelle ; but he managed so ill that he lost two-thirds of 
his army and accomplished nothing. 

Burdened with debt and humiliation, the King had to sum- 
mon another Parliament, which proved even more resolute 
than the last. Its great work was the Petition 
of Rights, which is justly called "The Second 
Great Charter of English Liberties." After reciting the laws 
of Edward I. and Edward III., which guaranteed the rights 
of the subject, and complaining that, in addition to arbitrary 
taxes, imprisonments, and executions, great companies of 
soldiers and sailors had lately been quartered in private 
houses, to the great grievance and vexation of the people, 
they closed by "humbly praying his most excellent Majesty" 
for relief from all these grievances, "according to the laws 
and statutes of this realm." 

318. Upon the receipt of five subsidies, the King reluc- 
tantly affixed his royal signature to the bill; and then, to 
escape further remonstrances, dissolved the Parliament. 
Buckingham was assassinated while preparing a new expedi- 
tion to relieve Rochelle. The fleet, under another com- 
mander, arrived too late to be of use; and the Huguenots 
were compelled to surrender the city under the very eyes of 
their English allies. Poverty soon forced King Charles to 
make peace, and he even chose some ministers from among 



A. D. 1629.] STRAFFORD AND LAUD. 171 

the popular leaders ; but the people distrusted him so deeply, 
that these leaders immediately lost their favor. 

319. Especially was this true of Sir Thomas Wentworth, 
whom the King raised, by successive promotions, to be 
Earl of Strafford, and adopted as his chief counselor. Went- 
worth had spoken in favor of popular rights only through 
hatred and jealousy of the Duke of Buckingham ; but as soon 
as the favorite's death made way for him to rise into power, 
he threw off the cloak of patriotism and lent his great talents 
to building up the power of the crown. He was made Lieu- 
tenant of Ireland, and not only subdued that restless country 
to absolute submission, but raised from it a fleet and army to 
enforce the King's will in England and Scotland. 

320. Both countries were driven almost to revolt by re- 
ligious tyranny. The King's chief agent in this matter was 
Laud, Bishop of London, who afterward became Archbishop 
of Canterbury. He lost no opportunity to preach submission 
to the "Lord's Anointed" in the payment of taxes; and he 
demanded from Scotch Presbyterians and English Puritans a 
strict conformity to his own rules for public worship. Charles 
had inherited his father's dislike of the Scotch reformers, and 
he determined, by a most unwarranted stretch of his author- 
ity, to impose upon the northern kingdom the liturgy and 
usages of the Church of England. He, moreover, renewed 
his father's law encouraging public sports and recreations on 
Sunday afternoons; and he ordered all clergymen to read 
his proclamation to this effect after morning service in the 
churches. The Puritan clergy refused obedience, and multi- 
tudes were punished by ejection from their livings. 

321. The King had now resolved to rule without a Parlia- 
ment; and he added to his lawless exactions of "tonnage and 
poundage," a revival of the old tax known as ship-money. 
But Alfred and Ethelred had only presumed to call for this 
with the advice and consent of the witan (§ 49), while Charles 



172 CENTURY OF REVOLUTIONS. [A. D, 1637. 

demanded it by his own arbitrary will. John Hampden 
refused to pay ship-money, in order to bring the 
matter to a test before the laws. All the nation 
looked on with intense anxiety while the question was argued 
before the Court of Exchequer. Even Clarendon, the courtly 
historian, says that Hampden "grew the argument of all 
tongues, every man inquiring who and what he was, that 
durst at his own charge support the liberty and prosperity 
of the kingdom." 

322. After long delay, the Court gave its decision. Four 
of the twelve judges, though holding their places only during 
the King's pleasure, had the manliness to give sentence in 
Hampden's favor; seven decided against him, and one gave 
an evasive answer. The moral victory remained with Hamp- 
den; for though the sentence of the Court placed all the 
property in England at the King's disposal, the people were 
now roused to a sense of their danger. Thousands emigrated 
to America; and Hampden, with his kinsman, Oliver Crom- 
well, had actually embarked among the rest, when a royal 
order in Council prevented the sailing of the ship. Even 
Charles the First never committed a greater blunder. 

323. In Scotland, meanwhile, nobles, gentry, clergymen, 
and citizens had organized themselves into four "Tables," 
and assumed the whole government of the kingdom. In the 
famous paper called the Covenant they solemnly swore that 
they would "continue in the profession of the reformed faith, 
and resist all contrary errors and corruptions." The Earl of 
Argyle became leader of the ' ' Covenanters, " and General 
Leslie, a veteran trained on the Continent in the Thirty 
Years' War, was placed at the head of the volunteer forces. 
War was indeed imminent. The King came northward with 
a great fleet and army; but his followers were divided in 
their sympathies, and he had to make peace, with a promise 
to abrogate the Canons, the Liturgy, and the Court of High 
Commission. 



A. D. 1641.J THE LONG PARLIAMENT. 173 

324. The expense of this bootless expedition compelled the 
King to summon the English Parliament, which had not met 
in eleven years. But it insisted upon redress of grievances 
before voting supplies, and was dissolved in three weeks. 
The Scottish army now invaded England and threatened 
York, where the King was residing. The ' ' Long Parlia- 
ment" — so called in contrast to the short session of the 
spring, and from its own duration of thirteen years — met in 
the autumn, and began its work by impeaching 

' & . & Nov., 1640. 

Strafford and Laud. Strafford was easily con- 
victed of plotting to overthrow the constitutional liberties of 
England; but the letter of the law provided no penalty for 
this worst of treasons, restricting its punishments to offenses 
against the person of the King. The Houses of Parliament, 
therefore, passed a Bill of Attainder; and the King, after 
much hesitation, signed his death-warrant. The popular joy 
and relief broke forth in shouts of triumph, and bonfires 
blazed in every city. 

325. On the day of Strafford's sentence the King also 
signed a bill of immense importance, providing that Parlia- 
ment should not be dissolved, prorogued, or adjourned with- 
out its own consent, and that a Parliament should be held at 
least once in three years. The Courts of Star Chamber and 
High Commission were abolished. The King's tools for op- 
pression were brought to trial, from the judges who had de- 
cided against Hampden to the sheriffs and custom-house 
officers who had collected the unlawful taxes. The Scots, 
whose military movements had made these acts possible, 
were declared to have been "ever good subjects"; and a 
gift of ;£6o,ooo, beside their pay, was voted them for their 
brotherly assistance. 

326. While the King was in the north, trying to conciliate 
the Scots, a fierce rebellion broke out in Ireland. The 
English and Scotch in Ulster (§ 308) were exterminated by 
a general slaughter; in the other three counties, they were 



174 CENTURY OF REVOLUTIONS. [A. D. 1642. 

driven from their homes to perish by wintry frosts and 
storms. Dublin alone remained to the English. Parliament, 
distrusting the King, took the task of dealing with the Irish 
rebellion upon its own hands. 

327. One rash act of the King now hurried on the civil 
war. The Commons had refused to surrender five of their 
members at his command, and Charles, with three hundred 
armed followers, came in person to the House to arrest 
them. The five were absent, and the King had to depart 
as he went, having offered a flagrant insult to the House 
and violated a fundamental law of the land. London was in 
a tumult. The accused members were sheltered by the citi- 
zens; and when they returned to their seats, the river and 
the streets by which they passed were guarded by cannon 
and men-at-arms. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Need of money makes Charles I. dependent upon Parliament, 
which knows its duty too well to grant supplies without redress of 
grievances. He demands a forced loan ; makes war in France with- 
out success; obtains five subsidies by signing Petition of Rights. 
Death of Buckingham. Rise of Wentworth, Earl of Strafford. Laud 
preaches the duty of absolute obedience to royal authority. Charles 
oppresses Scotch Presbyterians and English Puritans; attempts to levy 
customs and ship-money without parliamentary grant. Hampden's re- 
sistance. Scotch Covenanters in arms. The King is forced to comply 
with their demands. Long Parliament impeaches Strafford and Laud; 
votes itself permanent; abolishes Courts of Star Chamber and High 
Commission; votes aid to the Scots. Massacre of the English in Ire- 
land. Charles attempts to arrest five members of Parliament ; they 
are protected by citizens of London. 

Read : S. R. Gardiner's England under the Duke of Buckingham and 
Charles I., and Personal Government of Charles I. ; Guizot's History of 
the English Revolution of 1640 ; Macaulay's essay on Hampden ; Forster's 
Arrest of the Five Members by Charles I. 



III. THE CIVIL WARS. 




A Cavalier. 



HE two parties of King and Par- 
liament were now openly arrayed 
against each other, and English 
turf was again to be reddened 
by English blood shed in civil 
strife. London and the other 
great cities, with the Puritan 
party in religion, were on the par- 
liamentary side. Oxford alone 
remained devoted to the King. 
The adherents of the ancient 
Church naturally sided with 
Charles; and so did all the 
young Cavaliers, who delighted 
in a gay and easy life, and in 
those light amusements which the Puritans so bitterly con- 
demned. Foremost among them were the King's nephews, 
Rupert and Maurice, sons of that unfortunate Elector-palatine 
who had tried to be King of Bohemia (§ 310). 

329. Parliament appointed lieutenants for all the counties, 
and levied forces in the King's name for the defense of the 
kingdom against the King himself. The armies which had 
been raised for service in Ireland were retained in England, 
and put under command of the Earl of Essex. Citizens 
brought their plate and women their ornaments, even to 
their thimbles and their wedding-rings, to be melted up in 
the service of the good cause against the malignants, as the 
Cavaliers began to be called. The Queen, on the other 
hand, sailed for Holland to pawn the crown jewels for gun- 
powder and muskets. 

(175) 



176 CENTURY OF REVOLUTIONS. [A. D. 1642. 

330. Charles set up his royal standard at Nottingham, 
Aug. 22, 1642, while the Earl of Essex mustered the Parlia- 
mentary forces at Northampton. The battles of that autumn 
were indecisive and need not be recorded. The spring opened 
with the capture of Reading by Essex ; but Cornwall and the 
four northern counties were at the same time conquered by 
the royal generals. A skirmish at Chalgrove Field would 
have been unimportant but that it cost the inestimable life 
of Hampden. At Lansdown Hill, near Bath, and at Devizes 
the King's forces were victorious; and soon afterward Prince 
Rupert captured Bristol, an important city which gave him 
the command of the west. 

In the hard-fought and really drawn battle of Newbury, 
the good Lord Falkland lost his life. He was a true lover 
of freedom and of his country, but he also loved the estab- 
lished Church, and hoped that the King would at last consent 
to the just demands of the people. He fought, therefore, 
against the Parliament. On the morning of the battle he was 
heard to say, "I am weary of the times, and foresee much 
misery to my country, but believe that I shall be out of it ere 
night." 

331. The Parliament now allied itself with the Scots by 
means of the Solemn League and Covenant. Both parties 
bound themselves to work for the extirpation of "popery 
and prelacy, superstition, heresy, schism, and profaneness," 
and to maintain the rights of parliaments in just regard to 
the royal authority. A Scottish army marched into England, 
while the King called over his troops from Ireland. A large 
body of these were defeated and captured at Nantwich by 
Sir Thomas Fairfax, who afterward joined the Scots in be- 
sieging York. Prince Rupert advanced to its relief, and in 

the furiously fousrht battle of Marston Moor the 

July, 1644. J & 

royal forces were overthrown, with the loss of 
their artillery. In the south and west, however, the Parlia- 
mentary troops under Essex were put to flight. 



A. D. 1645.] CROMWELL'S IRONSIDES. 1 77 

332. The Parliament itself was now divided into widely 
differing parties. The Presbyterians desired a limited mon- 
archy and an established Church without bishops. The In- 
dependents were more radical : they admitted no intervention 
of the civil power, either to help or hinder, in matters of re- 
ligion ; and desired a commonwealth without king or nobles, 
in which all men should be equal before the laws. Oliver 
Cromwell was a principal leader of the Independents, and 
became the foremost figure in that eventful time. 

333* Several noblemen had hitherto held commands in the 
Parliamentary armies; but the movements of the earls of 
Essex and Manchester were constantly hampered by their 
fear of hurting the King ; they wished only to teach him, by 
a few reverses, to keep within the just limits of his authority. 
A plan was devised for changing officers without giving 
offense. A "Self-denying Ordinance" was introduced into 
Parliament, excluding the members of either House from 
holding any civil or military office. All noblemen were by 
right of birth members of the upper House, and the passage 
of the bill therefore removed from the army the earls of 
Essex, Manchester, Waller, and several others. Cromwell, 
though a member of the lower House, was permitted to 
retain his command for a time. 

334. With the consent of Fairfax, the Commander-in-chief, 
he now introduced a "New Model" of discipline into the 
army. The first aim was to collect a body of honest, self- 
respecting and God-fearing men; and never, probably, was 
such another army seen. Their leisure time was spent in 
study of the Bible and mutual exhortations to a godly life. 
Wherever they moved, every man's house and field was re- 
spected, and provisions were honestly paid for. The King's 
army, though superior at first in military training, was worse 
than a plague of grasshoppers to the country over which it 
moved. The wild young marauders who followed Prince 
Rupert had learned their trade among the direful scenes of 
Engf. — 12. 



1 7$ CENTURY OF REVOLUTIONS. [A. D. 1645. 

the Thirty Years' War, where the burning of villages and the 
ravaging of harvest-fields were but every-day affairs. The 
citizen-soldiers of the Parliament, called from their looms and 
desks, soon acquired the drill which they lacked, while the 
bravery of the Cavaliers scantily compensated the King's 
cause for the disgrace of their misconduct. 

335. The success of the " New Model" was proved in the 
battle of Naseby, where, in spite of Prince Rupert's fiery and 

victorious onset upon Ireton's command, Crom- 
well and Fairfax won the day. The King quitted 
the field with a loss of 5,000 prisoners and all his artillery 
and baggage. In the latter were found papers revealing the 
King's plot with the Irish rebels, conceding all their wild 
demands on condition of their aid against the English Par- 
liament. Prince Rupert soon afterward surrendered Bristol, 
then the second city in England, and was recommended by 
his uncle to seek his fortune beyond seas. 

336. The King's cause fast fell to ruin, and he shut him- 
self up in Oxford, whence he in vain sent messengers to 
London to treat for peace. Finding that no man trusted 
him, he secretly left Oxford with only two attendants, and 
fled to the Scotch army at Newark. He believed that he 
had removed all offense on the part of the Scots by conced- 
ing all their demands; and, moreover, he might count more 
on the affection of the subjects among whom he had been 
born, than of the new people among whom his father had 
come as a foreigner. But he still refused to sign the Cov- 
enant, or to accept the terms offered him by the English 
Parliament. The Scots, the royalist officers, and even the 
Queen urged him with tears to provide thus for his safety. 
Large arrears were now due from the Parliament to the 
Scottish army; and upon the receipt of ^£400,000, its officers 
agreed to surrender the King into the hands of the English 
commissioners. 

337. The triumph of the Parliament was of short duration. 



A. D. 1648.] CHARLES A PRISONER. 179 

The army, in which the Independent party was the stronger, 
made the King its prisoner, and, moving upon London, 
assumed control of the government and city. The King 
was reinstated at Hampton Court, and though under guard, 
lived with dignity and every appearance of personal freedom. 
The generals Cromwell and Ireton desired to save him; but 
they found, as the Parliament had done, that his word was 
given only to be violated. Secretly eluding his 
attendants, Charles fled to the Isle of Wight, 
whose governor, Col. Hammond, conducted him to Caris- 
brook Castle. Here he was still a prisoner, though treated, 
as before, with every mark of respect ; but on his attempting 
to leave Carisbrook, he was deprived of communication with 
his friends, and even of the attendance of his servants. 

338. Parliament was meanwhile trying to come to agree- 
ment with the King and to rid itself of the army. But the 
army distrusted the Parliament, and refused to be disbanded 
until its work was done and English freedom secured. At 
this moment the Parliament was more dangerous than the 
King, for in its sectarian zeal it enacted a law more ferocious 
than even the persecuting statutes of Henry VIII. or "Bloody 
Mary." The death penalty was fixed upon all who should 
deny the doctrine of the Trinity or the divinity of Christ or 
the divine inspiration of the Scriptures or the resurrection of 
the body ; while persons believing ' ' that man by nature hath 
free will to turn to God," or denying the lawfulness of 
"Church government by Presbytery," were to be punished 
with imprisonment. Of course this terrible statute was never 
enforced, but its enactment proved the danger and justified 
extraordinary means of resistance. 

339. The King was still stirring up war between his two 
kingdoms by secret agents, while royalist risings agitated 
every part of England. Cromwell gained a decisive victory 
at Preston over an invading army of Scots, and pushing on 
over the Border, reinstated the Marquis of Argyle in power 



i8o CENTURY OF RE VOLUTIONS. [A. D. 1648. 

at Edinburgh (§ 323). He then hastened to London, where 
the Parliament had accepted the King's concessions as a 
"sufficient foundation for a treaty of peace," and where Col. 
Pride had thereupon taken possession of the House, and 
arrested or excluded all the royalist members. The remnant 
of a Parliament, now exclusively composed of Independents, 
made a new law declaring it to be high treason for a king 
to levy war against the lawfully chosen representatives of his 
people. They furthermore declared that the people are, wide? 
God, the origin of all just power, and that the Commons of 
England in Parliament assembled — being chosen by and 
representing the people — are the supreme authority of the 
nation ; and it was voted without a dissenting voice to bring 
Charles Stuart to trial for the "treason, blood, and mischief 
he was guilty of." 

340. Never was a more august assemblage in Westminster 
Hall than the court which was to settle the great dispute 
between King and people. One hundred and fifty com- 
missioners had been appointed by the Commons, with Brad- 

shaw, an eminent lawyer, at their head. The. 

Jan., 1649. 

advocate of the Commons opened the case by a 
statement that "Charles Stuart, being admitted King of 
England and intrusted with a limited power, yet, from a 
wicked design to erect an unlimited and tyrannical govern- 
ment, had traitorously and maliciously levied war against 
the present Parliament and the people whom they repre- 
sented, and was therefore impeached as a tyrant, traitor, 
murderer, and a public and implacable enemy to the Com- 
monwealth." 

341. Charles appeared more majestic in this hour of peril 
than ever in his days of power and prosperity. He replied 
with dignity, but with mildness, that his kingly rights were 
derived from the Supreme Majesty of Heaven, and that no 
earthly tribunal could be competent to try him. And, con- 
trary as this theory was to the whole spirit of the English 



A. D. 1649] EXECUTION OF CHARLES I. 



government, as well as destructive to the safety and just 
rights of the people, there is no doubt that Charles believed 
it, and thought that he was only guarding a sacred trust 
which God had bestowed upon him. Thirty-two witnesses 
were examined, and, after five days, the prisoner was pro- 
nounced guilty. 

342. The Scots protested against this trial of their hered- 
itary king ; the Dutch interceded, and the Prince of Wales 
sent a blank sheet of paper, with his name and seal affixed, 
upon which the Parliament might write any terms it pleased 
for sparing his father's life. All was in vain : the King was 
condemned to die. A scaffold was erected from the window 
of the great banqueting room in his own palace of White- 
hall ; and there, surrounded by a sea of upturned 

. . Jan., 1649. 

faces, his "gray, discrowned head" fell beneath 
the executioner's ax. Until the present reign, the 30th of 
January was commemorated as the "Day of King Charles 
the Martyr," by a special service in the English Church, 
and by solemn mourning on the part of the court. The 
good sense of the Queen or her ministers — whose govern- 
ment fully accepts and embodies the principles that con- 
demned Charles — then abrogated the meaningless and af- 
fected ceremony. 

343. In domestic virtue Charles was unsurpassed by any 
sovereign who has ruled England. His manners were gentle 
-and refined ; his taste in art and literature was unblemished. 

His fatal defect as a king was that falsity of character which 
canceled the most solemn agreements and robbed him of all 
claims to confidence. Perhaps it was his misfortune, rather 
than his crime, that he was unable to believe in the wisd«m 
or even the honesty of any theory of government but his own, 
or to perceive that his throne could never be firm until it was 
"broad-based upon the people's will." 

A few days after his death, the Commons voted to abolish 
the House of Lords and the monarchy, and to prepare a new 



82 CENTURY OF REVOLUTIONS. 



Great Seal bearing the date: " The first year of freedom, by 
God's blessing restored, 1648." 



RECAPITULATION. 

King and Parliament appeal to arms. Death of Hampden at Chal- 
grove Field. Victory of the King at Devizes. Bristol taken by Prince 
Rupert. "Solemn League and Covenant" unites Parliament with the 
Scots. Rupert besieges York ; is routed at Marston Moor. Dissensions 
between Presbyterians and Independents. "Self-denying Ordinance" 
removes noblemen from command of Parliamentary armies. Good 
conduct of Cromwell's soldiers contrasted with disorders of the Cav- 
aliers. Victory of Fairfax at Naseby. The King takes refuge with 
the Scots, who surrender him to the English. Persecuting Act of 
Parliament. Col. Pride expels the royalist members; the remnant 
vote the trial of the King for treason. Pie denies the competence 
of the court. Intercessions of Scots, Dutch, and the Prince of Wales 
fail to save him. Execution of Charles I. at Whitehall. Abolition 
of monarchy in England. The Commonwealth proclaimed. 

Read : Bisset's History of the Struggle for Parliamentary Government 
in England ; Isaac Disraeli's Commentaries on the Life and Reign oj 
Charles I. — a strong defense of the King ; Macaulay's essay on Milton, 
for a reverse picture, and an excellent account of the Puritans; Mas- 
son's Life and Times of Milton ; Brodie's Constitutional History of the 
British Empire, from the Accession of Charles L. to the Restoration ; Geo. 
McDonald's St. Michael and St. George ; Mrs. Charles' The Draytons 
and Davenants ; and Scott's Legend of Montrose. 



IV. THE COMMONWEALTH (A. D. 1649-1660.) 




A Puritan. 



HE execution at Whitehall in- 
volved the Parliament in a new 
and greater difficulty. It de- 
stroyed a captive king, and, in 
the view of all royalists, thereby 
gave England an active young 
sovereign, safe beyond the reach 
of his enemies, and who, though 
a much worse man than his 
father, had not yet shown any 
of the faults which had been 
the destruction of the elder 
Charles. The Scots, whose 
"Covenant" bound them to 
the support of monarchy, immediately proclaimed Charles II. 
as their king ; and several important towns in Ireland, casting 
off the authority of the Parliament, also acknowledged him. 
The strength of the Independents was in their army of 50,000 
men, and in the iron will of Cromwell, who was now ap- 
pointed Lord Lieutenant- and Governor of Ireland. 

345. He took Drogheda and Wexford by storm, and put 
the garrison to the sword, in stern retaliation for the massa- 
cres of the English (§ 326). Terrified by this severity, town 
after town opened its gates at Cromwell's approach. The 
next year, the Marquis of Ormond, Charles's lieutenant, left 
the island, and more than 40,000 royalists enlisted in the 
wars of France, Spain, or Austria. The most troublesome 
elements being thus drawn off, Ireland enjoyed such quiet- 
ness as she had not known in centuries. 

(183) 



1 84 CENTURY OF REVOLUTIONS. [A. D. 1650. 

346. The brave and loyal Marquis of Montrose had, 
meanwhile, been defeated in Scotland and betrayed into the 
hands of the Covenanters, who put him to death in the most 
cruel and insulting manner. The young King disowned his 
enterprise after he heard of its failure, though it had been 
undertaken with his approval and promise of support. Charles 
was not permitted to land in Scotland until he had signed 
the Covenant; and the daily and hourly sermons and exhorta- 
tions to which he was afterward subjected, seemed to the gay 
young Prince a dear price to pay for his comfortless crown. 
He was made to publish a proclamation declaring himself 
humbled in spirit and afflicted for his father's tyranny and his 
mother's idolatry. Still no man trusted him, and he was king 
only in name, the real power remaining where it had been 
before, — with the Scottish Parliament. 

347. Cromwell, returning from Ireland, was made Captain- 
general of all the forces in England. He invaded Scotland, 
gained a remarkable victory over the Scotch at Dunbar, and 
followed up his advantage by seizing Edinburgh and Leith. 
Charles was not sorry for this defeat of his jailers, for it 
forced them to treat him with greater respect. He was 

crowned at Scone, and, the next summer, took 
the bold resolution of marching into England. 
He hoped to be joined by many royalists; — in any case, he 
would force Cromwell to leave Scotland, in order to fight 
him. The first hope was disappointed; the second was ful- 
filled far beyond his wishes. 

348. Cromwell, by a sudden march, surprised Worcester, 
where the King had arrived; and, in a fiercely fought con- 
test, either killed or captured the entire Scottish army. 
Charles himself became a fugitive, and wandered six weeks 
in various disguises. At one time, concealed in the thick 
branches of an oak, he saw and heard his pursuers pass be- 
neath him. A great reward was offered for his betrayal, 
while those who concealed him were threatened with death ; 



A. D. 1652.] THE COMMONWEALTH. 185 

but forty men and women, mostly poor laborers, were at 
different times safely intrusted with his secret. At length- he 
embarked at Shoreham, and arrived safely in France, where 
he became a pensioner of his young cousin, King Louis XIV. 

349. Scotland was subdued by Gen. Monk, in a campaign 
as terribly severe as was that of Cromwell in Ireland. The 
inhabitants of Dundee were put to the sword ; and Aberdeen 
and many other towns and forts hastened to make their sub- 
mission to the English Commonwealth. Ireton, who had 
completed the conquest of Ireland, died at Limerick, and 
was succeeded by Gen. Ludlow. The Puritan colonies in 
New England rejoiced in the triumph of their party at home. 
The other American settlements were compelled to acknowl- 
edge the Commonwealth. 

350. England, after years of humiliation, had a government 
which could command order at home and respect abroad, as 
in the days of Elizabeth. The war-making power was, for 
the first time, in the same hands with the purse-strings, while 
the abolition of rank and titles opened a free career to all 
talents and energies; so that men rose to high commands 
who, in earlier or later times, might have lived and died in 
obscurity. Among these was Admiral Blake, who made the 
English navy more famous than it ever had been before. 
Prince Rupert was now cruising in the Atlantic. Blake with 
his fleet drove him into the Tagus; and when the King of 
Portugal refused to admit the pursuers, they revenged them- 
selves by seizing twenty richly laden vessels belonging to His 
Majesty, who was only permitted to renew his alliance with 
England by a humble apology and submission. 

351. The neighboring republic of Holland was the next to 
feel the increase of English power. An arbitrary Navigation 
Act forbade foreign captains to bring into English ports any 
merchandise which was not the growth or manufacture of 
their own country. This was aimed at the Hollanders, whose 
country was small, but whose merchant fleet was the largest 



1 86 CENTURY OF REVOLUTIONS. [A. D. 1652. 

in the world, and who subsisted in great measure by the 
carrying trade between foreign ports. 

352. Without waiting for a formal declaration of war, the 
fiery spirits of Blake and Van Tromp, the Dutch admiral, 
sprang to arms. Many battles were fought in the Channel 
during the summer and autumn of 1652. After one victory, 
Van Tromp affixed a broom to his main-mast and sailed up 
and down the Channel, expressing his determination to sweep 
the English from the seas. The most obstinate of all these 
sea-fights lasted three days, off Portland, and ended in an 
English victory. The war was ended in 1654, by a defensive 
league between the two republics, — England retaining the 
honor of being saluted by the lowering of the Dutch flag, 
whenever ships of the two nations met at sea. 

353. The Long Parliament had now continued thirteen 
years; and though it had ceased to represent the wishes of 
the people, there was no power legally entitled to dismiss it 
(§ 325). Cromwell resolved upon a bold stroke. Repairing 
to the House with a guard of soldiers, he heard the debates 
for a time in silence; then starting to his feet, reproached 
the Parliament, in bitter words, with its tyranny, ambition, 
and robbery of the people. Then stamping with his foot, as 
a signal for his soldiers to enter, he cried out, "For shame! 
get you gone ! Give place to honester men ! You are no 
longer a parliament ! I tell you, you are no longer a parlia- 
ment ! The Lord has done with you : He has chosen other 
instruments for carrying on His work." He commanded his 
soldiers to clear the hall and lock the doors. 

354. The Parliament had become so unpopular, that few 
seem to have complained of Cromwell's extraordinary pro- 
ceeding. Addresses of congratulation poured in from the 
fleet, the army, and many of the counties. Cromwell, by 

his own act, then summoned a new parliament 

of one hundred and twenty-eight members, the 

first in which representatives of England, Scotland, and Ire- 



A. D. 1655.] 



CROMWELL, PROTECTOR. 



87 



land sat together as they do to-day. But this assemblage was 
in its turn dissolved within six months, having first, by a new 
Instrument of Government, conferred sovereign powers upon 
Cromwell, with the title of "Lord Protector" for life. He 
bound himself to summon a parliament once in three years, 
and to allow them to sit at least five months without pro- 
rogation. 






\& A 




Cromwell dissolving Parliament. 

An insurrection of the royalists led to the "decimation," 
as it was called, of their party— that is, a tax of the tenth 
penny on all their revenues. To collect this tax, England 
was divided into ten military districts, under as many major- 
generals, who were authorized to imprison all whom they 
suspected. 

355- Cromwell made his power felt and feared by the 



1 88 CENTURY OF REVOLUTIONS. [A. D. 1657. 

pirates of the Barbary coast, and by the Spaniards both in 
Europe and America. From the latter he wrested the island 
of Jamaica; and Blake gained his greatest victory over a 
Spanish fleet in the harbor of Santa Cruz, under the guns of 
their castle and seven forts. But this was the last battle of 
the great Admiral. Already consumed by disease, he has- 
tened homeward, but died within sight of his native shores. 
The intervention of Cromwell in behalf of the protestant 
Vaudois, against the persecutions of their Duke, pleased the 
English, while it commanded the respect of the whole Com 
tinent. In alliance with France, Cromwell then engaged in 
the war against Spain, in which the important harbor and 
fortress of Dunkirk became the prize of the English. 

356. In 1657, Parliament offered to Cromwell its " Humble 
Petition and Advice " that he would assume the crown. This 
was meant not so much for additional honor to him as for 
security to the nation. An existing law provided that no 
subject should be accused of treason on account of his alle- 
giance to the king for the time being, whatever disposition 
might afterward be made of the crown. No such security 
existed, in case of the restoration of Charles II., for those 
who had adhered to the Protector. But such a step, while 
contenting the moderate and timid party, would have offended 
the army and all stanch Republicans, and Cromwell refused 
to take the crown. He was reinvested with his Protector- 
ship, however, with almost royal ceremony, — with the purple 
robe, the scepter, and the sword, — and was permitted to name 
his successor. 

357. But the Protector was already worn out by cares of 
state. His government, even in the judgment of his enemies, 
had been energetic and successful almost beyond precedent. 
The religious dissensions which had troubled England more 
than a hundred years, were quieted by Cromwell's firm, wise, 
and tolerant policy. Even the Jews, who had been banished 
ever since Edward I., were quietly permitted to return. Yet 



A. D. 1660.] DEATH OF CROMWELL. 189 

in managing the prejudices of the nation, Cromwell had 
taken greater liberties with the Parliament than even Charles 
I. had done. He had levied taxes without the consent of 
Parliament; and when a sufferer appealed to the courts for 
redress, as Hampden had done, his lawyers were arrested 
and thrown into the Tower. The Protectorate, though ably 
promoting most of the private interests of the people, was a 
tyranny in form, and Cromwell painfully felt it to be so. 

358. Agents from the court of Charles II., at Brussels or 
Cologne, were constantly raising insurrections among the 
English royalists, or lying in wait to murder the Protector. 
Cromwell was seized with a slow fever, and died 

Sept. 3, 1658. 

on the anniversary of his great battles of Dunbar 
and Worcester. His eldest son, Richard, succeeded peace- 
ably to the Protectorship; but he proved wholly unable to 
hold in check the fierce contentions of the army and the 
Parliament. Gen. Lambert, an ambitious man who coveted 
the chief power, plotted against him ; and Richard, rather 
than meet the storm, resigned his place. 

359. The council of military officers proceeded first to set 
up and then violently put down the still surviving remnant 
of the Long Parliament, and appointed in its place a Com- 
mittee of Safety. All things seemed tottering upon the edge 
of a fearful abyss, — anarchy, massacre, and universal terror. 
But Gen. Monk, who had been Governor of Scotland, now 
advanced with his army to London. He required the Par- 
liament, which had reassembled, to fix a day for its own dis- 
solution, and to issue writs for a new election. 

360. The nation now desired a return to its ancient form 
of government, and the new Parliament, or Convention, was 
largely composed of royalists. Gen. Monk, however, had not 
waited for Parliament to name the conditions : he was already 
in correspondence with the King. It only remained for the 
two Houses — for the nobles again took their seats (§ ^43) — 
to vote the restoration of the monarchy, and to accept 



190 CENTURY OF REVOLUTIONS. [A. D. 1660. 

Charles's Declaration, published at Breda in Holland, as a 
guarantee of the safety of England under his reign. The 
King was proclaimed with great solemnity in London, May, 
1660; and a committee of lords and commons crossed the 
sea, inviting him to come and take possession of his throne. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Charles II. is proclaimed king in Scotland and acknowledged in 
Ireland. Cromwell's severe settlement of Irish affairs. Montrose in 
Scotland is defeated and slain by the Covenanters. Charles II. is 
compelled to sign the Covenant and disavow acts of his parents. 
Cromwell's victory at Dunbar; he takes Edinburgh. Charles invades 
England; is defeated by Cromwell at Worcester; takes refuge in 
France. American colonies acknowledge the Commonwealth. En- 
ergetic policy of the government. Blake's naval victories. War with 
Holland ends in advantage to the English. Cromwell dissolves the 
Long Parliament; summons "Little" or " Barebones's Parliament"; 
becomes Protector of the Commonwealth; levies tax on royalists; 
wrests Jamaica from Spain ; protects Vaudois from persecution ; gains 
Dunkirk ; refuses the crown, but is reinstated with the Protectorship ; 
permits return of the Jews ; dies ; is succeeded by his son Richard, 
who soon resigns. Threatened anarchy prevented by restoration of 
Charles II. 

Read: Carlyle's Oliver Cromwell 1 s Letters and Speeches; Forster's 
Sir John Eliot, and Statesmen of the Commonwealth of England ; Peter 
Bayne's Chief Actors in the Puritan Revolution ; Gold win Smith's Three 
English Statesmen; Ranke's History of England, principally in the 
Seventeenth Century; Bisset's History of the Commonwealth of England ; 
Guizot's History of England under Richard Cromwell, and History of 
Monk. 



V. THE RESTORATION. 




Plague in London. 



HARLES II. (A. D. 1660-1685) 
entered London on his thirtieth 
birthday, May 29th, while bells 
rang, bonfires blazed, and songs 
and shouts testified the frenzied 
joy of the people. They were 
relieved, in fact, from a great 
anxiety ; for it had been doubt- 
ful who could take up the govern- 
ment which Cromwell's strong 
hand had dropped; and men 
hoped that exile and adversity 
would have trained the prince 
to a wise and useful king. His first act promised well : a 
general pardon was proclaimed, except to the few who were 
immediately concerned in the death of Charles I. 

A silly and base revenge was, indeed, taken upon the life- 
less remains of Cromwell, Ireton, and Bradshaw, which were 
dragged from their tombs and hung upon the gallows at Ty- 
burn, a mark for the drunken insults of those who had feared 
them in life. Milton, * one of the best and greatest men of 
the age, was deprived of his employments, and barely escaped 
with his life, for having written a noble "Defense of the 
English People " in their controversy with Charles I. ; while 
Monk was rewarded for his treason to his late associates by 
becoming- Duke of Albemarle and General-in-chief. 



* Milton's greatest poem, "Paradise Lost," — one of the greatest 
of all ages, — was published seven years after Charles's accession. 
Dryden, who belongs to a lower rank of poets, degraded a fine genius 
by subserviency to the Court. 

(190 



T92 CENTURY OF REVOLUTIONS. [A. D. 1661. 



362. In Scotland, the "Drunken Parliament," far surpass- 
ing the English in its wild loyalty to Charles, annulled all the 
acts of its predecessors for twenty-eight years, and ordered to 

execution the noble leader of the Presbyterians, 
the Marquis of Argyle (§ 339). Church affairs 
in both kingdoms were restored as nearly as possible to their 
condition under James I. Every civil officer was required to 
receive the Communion according to the rites of the Church 
of England, to renounce the "Covenant," and take an oath 
declaring that no circumstance could ever make it lawful to 
resist the King. 

An Act of Uniformity compelled all clergymen to declare 
their full assent to every thing contained in the Book of 
Common Prayer. Rather than take this burden upon their 
consciences, 2,000 ministers, the most learned and distin- 
guished in the country, resigned their livings. The Con- 
venticle Act forbade the meeting of more than five persons 
at one place and time for worship, except by the use of the 
Liturgy ; and the Five Mile Act subsequently made it a crime 
for any dispossessed clergyman even to approach within the 
distance named of his former parish. The penalties for dis- 
obedience were fines, imprisonment, and transportation. The 
Quakers, whose consciences forbade them to bear arms or to 
take oaths, were imprisoned to the number of 12,000. 

363. These were the acts of the royalist Council and Par- 
liament ; for the careless good-nature of the King unfitted him 
for a persecutor. So far as he sincerely held any religion at 
all, Charles was a Roman Catholic; and he sometimes insisted 
upon indulgence for dissenters, in order to shield the Romish 
"recusants." But the shameless licentiousness of his court 
alarmed and disgusted even his best friends and warmest 
adherents. Though Parliament had conferred upon him a 
greater revenue than his father had ever enjoyed, his con- 
stant want of money led him to sell Dunkirk, the one 
result of Cromwell's victories (g 355), to the French, — a 



A. D. 1667.] WAR, PESTILENCE, AXD FIRE. 193 



national disgrace which the English people considered the 
greatest that had befallen them since the loss of Calais 
(§ 281). 

364. England was at the same time drained by a costly 
war with the Dutch, who had the French and the Danes for 
allies. The King's brother, the Duke of York, distinguished 
himself in naval command, and was rewarded by the lands 
on the Hudson River in America, which had been wrested 
from the Dutch. The chief city of the province 

1 l A. D. 1664. 

changed its name from New Amsterdam to New 
York ; and the fort and trading station 150 miles to the north- 
ward was named Albany, from the Duke's Scottish title. The 
fighting in the British waters was obstinate and fierce. One 
battle lasted four days, and was at last undecided. Another, 
three weeks later, resulted in victory to the English. 

365. While negotiations for a peace were in progress at 
Breda, King Charles, thinking to save the Parliament's last 
subsidy for his own pleasures, neglected to maintain the fleet. 
The Dutch, seizing the opportunity, sailed boldly up the 
Thames, captured Sheerness, burned many ships, and threat- 
ened London itself. But Louis XIV., who only wanted the 
two great maritime powers to wear each other out, now with- 
drew his aid from the Hollanders, and peace was signed at 
Breda, July, 1667. 

Two great calamities at home had been added, the pre- 
ceding year, to humiliation abroad. The Plague, which in 
that century was always lurking in the narrow and undrained 
alleys of London, spread over the city and destroyed in six 
months 100,000 lives. It was followed by the Great Fire, 
which destroyed 13,000 dwellings and 90 churches, with 
merchandise beyond account. This, indeed, was not an un- 
mixed calamity; for, perhaps, nothing but the flames could 
have removed the deadly infection of the Plague. The re- 
built streets were wider, and the city became healthier than 
ever before. 

') . Eng.— 13. 



194 CENTURY OF REVOLUTIONS. [A. D. 1667. 

366. The Chancellor, Lord Clarendon, was blamed by the 
people as the cause of the disgraces in the Dutch war. 
Though he had been the King's faithful friend throughout 
his exile, he wearied Charles by his virtues as much as the 
people by his toryism ; and court and Parliament now agreed 
that he should be the victim of the popular displeasure. He 
was not only deprived of the Great Seal, but impeached and 
sentenced to banishment. 

The control of affairs now rested with five noblemen, * 
who are commonly known as the Cabal. Their initials 
formed this word, which, however, was the usual name for 
a king's cabinet, or secret committee of administration. Its 
first action was honorable to England. Through the media- 
tion of Sir William Temple with De Witt, chief minister of 
the Dutch Republic, a league was made of Hol- 
land, Sweden, and England against the growing 
power of France. Louis XIV. desired to push his northern 
frontier to the Rhine, by robbing Spain of her dependent 
provinces; but the "Triple Alliance" forced him to make 
peace at Aix-la-Chapelle, and abandon for a time his conquest 
of the Netherlands. 

367. Charles very soon descended from the high position 
in which this treaty had placed him. In a secret bargain 
negotiated at Dover with the King of France, he agreed to 
declare himself a Romanist and join Louis in a war against 
the Dutch, for a yearly pension of 3,000,000 francs. In case 
of his change of religion exciting disturbance in England, 
Louis promised an army of 6,000 men to put it down. 

England was now at the lowest point of her humiliation. 
Under Elizabeth, she had been second only to Spain, if to 
any of the great powers of Europe. With the accession of 
James I., she descended to a second rank. The eight years 
of Cromwell's vigorous rule raised her again to a command- 



Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Arlington, and Lauderdale. 



A. D. 1678.] THE POPISH PLOT. x 95 



ing position ; and an English embassador who resided at the 
French court, both before and after the Restoration, bore 
witness that he was treated with far greater respect as the 
minister of Cromwell than as the representative of Charles II., 
though the latter was the French King's cousin. 

368. When the disgraceful " Treaty of Dover" became 
known, the people, who remembered the persecutions of 
Mary and the plots against Elizabeth, felt themselves basely 
betrayed; and their terror was increased by the open pro- 
fession of Romanism by the Duke of York, who was heir- 
apparent to the crown. In obedience to the "Test Act," 
the Duke laid down his commission as Lord High Admiral ; 
and his resignation was followed by hundreds of others in the 
military and civil service. 

An infamous adventurer, Titus Oates, availed himself of 
the excitement to spread rumors of a "Popish A D . l678 . 
Plot" to kill the King, burn London, massacre 
all the Protestants, and crown the Duke of York, on condi- 
tion of his holding the kingdom as the gift of the Pope. 
The whole story was made up of the boldest falsehoods ; but 
the fears of the people had destroyed their power of judg- 
ment. Godfrey, the magistrate before whom Oates had made 
his first deposition, was found dead in a field; and it was 
assumed that the Jesuits had committed the murder, in order 
to silence the disclosures. Oates had the insolence to accuse 
even the Queen* of being accessory to the plot. The re- 
wards offered for further information brought forward a crowd 
of equally infamous spies and informers, who vied with each 
other in setting afloat each day some new story more exciting 
and atrocious than the last. 

369. Oates became the most distinguished man in England. 

* Charles, soon after his accession, had married a Portuguese 
princess, Catherine of Braganza, who brought, as part of her dowry, 
the important fortresses of Tangiers in Africa and Bombay in Hin- 
dustan. 



196 CENTURY OF REVOLUTIONS. [A. D. 1679. 

He strutted about in lawn sleeves like those of a bishop, had 
a guard to protect him, and enjoyed an ample pension. Five 
Catholic noblemen were thrown into the Tower and im- 
peached ; and one of them, the venerable Lord Stafford, was 
beheaded. The Earl of Shaftesbury took advantage of the 
excitement to obtain a law excluding Romanists from sitting 
in either House of Parliament; and this law continued in 
force a hundred and fifty years. A still stronger effort was 
made to pass the Exclusion Bill, as it was called, preventing 
the accession of the Duke of York to the throne. It passed 
the Commons in May, 1679; Dut t0 prevent its going to the 
Lords, the King dissolved the Parliament. * 

370. The election which followed proved so unfavorable 
to his wishes, that he prorogued the new Parliament on the 
very day when it should have met; and by repeating this 

action, kept it from meeting for a whole year. 

When it was at last permitted to assemble, it took 
up the Exclusion Bill and was again dissolved. A third Par- 
liament was convened at Oxford, but it showed precisely the 
same spirit as its predecessors, and was dissolved after only 
seven days' session. 

During these excitements, the nation was rent into two 
parties of Petitioners and Abhorrers, — the first calling loudly 
for the meeting of Parliament, the second expressing their 
abhorrence of any who would presume to dictate to the 
King. The names of "Whig" and "Tory" which arose at 



* This Parliament is worthy of grateful mention for the passage of 
the Habeas Corpus Act, which effectually prevents arbitrary or pro- 
longed imprisonments. By its provisions every prisoner is entitled to 
a hearing during the first term of court after his arrest ; and every 
jailer, upon a writ of habeas corpus granted by the judge, is bound- to 
produce his prisoner in court and show the cause of his imprisonment. 
This Act only reaffirmed a principle recognized in English law ever 
since Magna Charta; and it is enforced in every country which has 
derived its ideas of law and justice from England. 



A. D. 1683.] RYE HOUSE PLOT. 197 

the same time, with nearly the same application, have lasted 
almost to our own day. 

371. The death of the innocent Lord Stafford turned the 
popular rage against "Papists" into pity and remorse, and 
no more blood was shed for the " Popish Plot." The whole 
tribe of informers, finding their vile trade destroyed, passed 
over to the opposite party, and, as states' evidence, con- 
tributed to the ruin of those who had employed them. 
Another plot, more real but not less iniquitously prosecuted, 
was brought to light in 1683. Several ruffians had formed 
a plan to waylay and shoot the King and his brother as they 
passed a certain farm called the Rye House, on their way to 
the races at Newmarket. The scheme was detected and its 
authors were put to death. 

372. But there were six conspirators of high rank who de- 
sired a change in the principles of government, though prob- 
ably none of them meant any personal harm to the King. 
These were the Duke of Monmouth, the King's own son by 
a low-born mother, Lord Russell, the Earl of Essex, Lord 
Howard, Algernon Sidney, and John Hampden, grandson 
of the great Parliamentary leader. Russell desired only the 
exclusion of the Duke of York from the succession, and a 
return to just government under the present king and consti- 
tution. Sidney was a Republican by principle, and had op- 
posed Cromwell's protectorship as well as Charles's restora- 
tion ; but he was not a murderer. The plans of the Whig 
leaders had probably no connection with the "Rye House 
Plot " ; yet they were arrested on the accusation of one of 
the conspirators, and their views were betrayed by one of 
their own number, Lord Howard. Essex died in prison ; 
Russell and Sidney were beheaded ; the Duke of 

J ' A. D. 1683. 

Monmouth, who had run away when the conspir- 
acy first came to light, received the King's pardon and was 
permitted to come to court ; but he soon disgusted all parties 
by his double dealing, and was again banished. 



1Q& CENTURY OF REVOLUTIONS. [A. D. 1679. 

373. The severities of Lauderdale, as Governor of Scot- 
land, had already driven the Covenanters to desperation. 
A company of them attacked Sharp, Archbishop of St. 
Andrews, dragged him from his coach, and murdered him 
upon the road in the presence of his daughter. This crime, 
of course, injured their cause far more than it could be in- 
jured by persecution. Soldiers were now ordered to break 
up all their religious assemblies; and the Covenanters met 
for worship only in the wildest recesses of the hills, all the 
men being armed, and sentinels posted to prevent surprise. 

John Graham of Claverhouse distinguished himself beyond 
the King's other officers by his brutality in breaking up these 
assemblages. Mothers and children were put to the sword, 
after seeing their protectors murdered with needless and 
wanton atrocity. At one time, however, Claverhouse was 
routed by the armed Covenanters whom he had disturbed 
at their worship, and lost thirty of his troopers. At another, 
8,000 Covenanters seized upon Glasgow; but Monmouth, 
who then enjoyed his father's confidence, defeated them in 
the battle of Bothwell Bridge. 

374. The King, who had formerly pleased the more ex- 
treme Protestants by marrying his eldest niece to William, 
Prince of Orange, stadtholder of Holland, now took another 
step in the same direction by the espousal of her sister Anne 
to a brother of the King of Denmark. The princesses were 
the only children of the Duke of York, and were next after 
their father in the succession to the throne. Their mother 
was Anne Hyde, daughter of the Earl of Clarendon. After 
her death, James married an Italian princess, Mary Beatrice, 
of Modena. 

375. Early in 1685, the King had an attack resembling 
apoplexy ; and after lingering a few days, he died in the 
fifty-fifth year of his age and the twenty-fifth of his reign. 
Charles well deserved his nickname of the "Merry Mon- 
arch," by his sportive manners and the freedom and gayety 



A. D. 1B85.] THE MERRY MONARCH. 199 

of his court. A daring epitaph, written by one of his 
courtiers, thus described him : 

" Here lies our sovereign lord the King, 
Whose word no man relies on ; 
Who never said a foolish thing, 
Nor ever did a wise one." 

To which Charles pleasantly retorted ' ' that it might be very 
true; for his words were his own, but his acts were his 
ministers'." 

RECAPITULATION. 

Joy of the English people at restoration of monarchy. Charles II. 
declares amnesty with few exceptions; but deprives Milton of his em- 
ployments ; rewards Monk with command-in-chief. Execution of the 
Marquis of Argyle. Persecution of non-conforming clergy and Quak- 
ers. Charles sells Dunkirk to Louis XIV. In war with the Dutch, 
their American province on the Hudson becomes New York. London 
is visited by the Plague and the Great Fire. Exile of Lord Clarendon. 
Rise of the Cabal. Triple Alliance of England, Holland, and Sweden 
against France. Charles accepts a pension from Louis XIV. Rumor 
of a Popish Plot occasions great excitement ; Romanists are excluded 
from Parliament. Detection of Rye House Plot leads to unjust exe- 
cution of Russell and Sidney. Persecution of Covenanters in Scotland. 
Daughters of the Duke of York marry Protestant princes. Charles II. 
dies in twenty-fifth year of his reign. 

Read: Harris's Life of Charles LI. ; Ewald's Life and Times of Alger- 
non Sidney ; Sidneys Letters, edited by T. Forster ; anonymous Memoirs 
of Dundee and the Highland Clans ; Macau lay's History of England, 
Vol. i; Paget's Paradoxes and Puzzles (for a criticism on Macaulay's 
view of Marlboro', Dundee, and the Massacre of Glencoe) ; the Diaries 
and Correspondence of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn ; Scott's Old 
Mortality. 



VI. REIGN AND ABDICATION OF JAMES II. 




w 



Capture of Monmouth. 



AMES II. (A. D. 1685-1688), 
lately Duke of York, succeeded 
without immediate opposition 
to his brother's crown. The country 
had been proud of him as its sailor 
prince; and, in spite of the recent 
agitations, his pledge to observe the 
laws and protect the Church was 
received with joyful confidence. Oates (§§ 368, 369) was 
now brought to trial for his perjuries. He was sentenced 
to be whipped through the city during two days, to stand 
in the pillory five times every year, and to be imprisoned 
during life. 

377. The Duke of Monmouth was now persuaded to make 
a rash invasion of England, asserting his own title to the 
crown. He accused his uncle as a " traitor, a tyrant, an 
assassin, and a popish usurper," charging him with being 
the author of the fire in London (§ 365), the murder of 
Godfrey and Essex (§§ 368, 372), and even of having poi- 
soned the late King. 

Monmouth was so beloved by the people, that though he 
(200) 



A. D. 1685.] MONMOUTH'S REBELLION. 201 

landed in England with only one hundred followers, he was 
soon at the head of six thousand, and had to dismiss many 
for want of arms. But his chief confederate, the Earl of 
Argyle, * was taken in Scotland and beheaded. Monmouth 
met the King's' forces at Sedgemoor and was thoroughly de- 
feated. Separated from all his followers, he was found lying 
in a ditch, spent with hunger and fatigue. He was admitted, 
after many entreaties, to his uncle's presence; and, throwing 
himself on his knees, begged with bitter tears that his life 
might be spared. He refused to buy it, however, with the 
betrayal of his friends ; and summoning his courage, met 
death upon the scaffold with firmness and submission. 

378. James exacted a bitter vengeance for this misguided 
attempt. A brutal officer, Col. Kirke by name, who had 
learned humanity from the Moors about Tangiers, was ap- 
pointed to deal with "Monmouth's rebels." Wherever he 
and his "lambs" appeared, men were hurried off to the 
gallows without even an inquiry whether they were innocent 
or guilty ; and he insulted their death-agonies by rude jests. 
He was succeeded by the Chief Justice, George Jeffreys, — 
the vilest wretch that ever bore that exalted title, and whose 
judicial murders were no less savage than the military execu- 
tions. Mrs. Gaunt and Lady Alice Lisle — generous and 
noble women, whose only crime was their humanity in shel- 
tering fugitives — were sentenced to death: the one was burnt 
and the other beheaded. Those who were spared bought 
their lives with their entire possessions, which went to enrich 
the Chief Justice. 

379. The King, who was a zealous Romanist, now used 
his supremacy to restore his three kingdoms to the ancient 
Church. The Test Act was suspended, and all high offices 
were given either to Catholics or Dissenters, with whom the 
King was compelled to make common cause for a time, while 



* Son of the great Marquis, §§ 323, 339, 362. 



202 CENTURY OF REVOLUTIONS. [A. D. 1688. 

opposing the established Church. His Declaration of Indul- 
gence was ordered to be read in all the churches 

April, 1688. ... 

during divine service. The Primate and six other 
bishops, venturing to remonstrate against this illegal act, were 
seized and thrown into the Tower. Throngs of sympathizing 
people lined the banks of the Thames as they passed to their 
prison ; and even the soldiers who guarded the venerable 
captives fell on their knees and begged their forgiveness and 
blessing. The bishops were tried in Westminster Hall and 
acquitted, to the rapturous joy of the people. 

380. The birth of an infant prince, though it occasioned 
great joy to the King, in reality hastened his fall. The people 
had been patiently awaiting the accession of Mary, Princess 
of Orange; but the appearance of her little brother on the 
scene suddenly destroyed their hopes. The best minds now 
perceived that the nation must throw itself upon its right of 
free choice, from which all English kings derive their power ; 
and urgent appeals were sent by all parties in England, ex- 
cept the Romanists, begging the Prince of Orange to come 
and free them from misgovernment. 

381. William was already, by circumstances and descent, 
the champion of Protestantism in Europe. The brave de- 
fender of his native land against the greedy ambition of 
Louis XIV., he the more readily undertook to defend the 
reformed Church of England against the kinsman and co- 
religionist of Louis. He was, moreover, after his wife and 
her sister Anne (§ 374), the next heir to the English throne 

having, like them, Charles I. for his grandfather. 

Nov., 1688. °' ' & 

(See Table, p. 206). The Prince set sail from 
Holland with 650 ships and 13,000 men, and landed at Tor 
Bay on the fifth of November. 

382. James, in his terror at the first news of the invasion, 
tried to undo the mischief he had done. He courted the 
bishops, reinstated all the county officers, and gave back the 



A. D. 1689.] FLIGHT OF JAMES IT. 203 

charters of London and other cities, which he had most ille- 
gally annulled. But it was too late. Nobles and gentry, 
army officers, and even Prince George of Denmark, with his 
wife, the Princess Anne, deserted the cause of James, and 
sent in their submission to the Prince of Orange. The Queen 
and her baby son fled to France ; and the King himself left 
his palace in the night, threw the Great Seal into the Thames, 
and was silently rowed down the river to a ship which he 
had engaged to take him across the Channel. 

383. Government was thus dissolved by the King's own 
act. The mob was master. Even the army, which James 
had so carefully raised to maintain his unlawful supremacy, 
was disbanded and let loose upon the city. In this dreadful 
crisis, the bishops and nobles who were in London took upon 
themselves the responsibility of government, issued orders to 
the commanders of forts, the fleet, and the army, and opened 
communication with the Prince of Orange. 

The runaway King was arrested near the coast; but this 
was unwelcome news to the authorities in London. No one 
wanted to harm him : the nation had grown wiser since his 
father's execution, and it was only desired that he should be 
safely out of the way. It was therefore made easy for him 
to escape ; and after waiting awhile for an invitation to resume 
his throne, he secretly took ship and joined his family in 
France. Louis XIV. received him with the utmost generos- 
ity, and maintained a little court for him, with his impover- 
ished followers, at St. Germains. 

384. William of Orange was requested to assume the gov- 
ernment as regent, but he refused until the will of the whole 
nation could be known. Mary also refused to accept the 
crown, unless her husband was joined with her in equal au- 
thority. A convention which met in January, 1689, declared 
the throne vacant by the abdication of James, and settled the 
crown upon William and Mary, Prince and Princess of Orange; 
adding to the Act of Settlement a Declaration of Rights, which 



2Q4 CENTURY OF REVOLUTIONS. 



put at rest all the points of dispute between sovereigns and 
people. It was afterward extended and confirmed in the Bill 
of Rights, which has been called the Third Great Charter of 
English Freedom (§ 317). 

385. In spite of the disorders in the government, England 
had steadily increased in industry and wealth ever since the 
Restoration. The year of James's accession was marked in 
France by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which 
Henry IV. had granted for the protection of the Huguenots, 
or Protestants. By withdrawing this protection, Louis XIV. 
drove half a million of his most industrious and thrifty sub- 
jects into exile, and enriched other countries as much as he 
impoverished his own. Thousands found homes in England 
and her American colonies, and panted there those fine man- 
ufactures for which the Huguenots were celebrated. To this 
day, the large proportion of French names among the silk- 
weavers of Spitalfields, near London, marks their descent 
from the colony of exiles for conscience' sake, who first in- 
troduced that industry into England. 

386. The reign of Charles II. was a great era in science. 
Sir Isaac Newton discovered the wondrous law that holds 
suns and planets in their orbits; Halley commenced his 
learned investigations of tides, comets, and the earth's mag- 
netism ; Boyle improved the air-pump, and studied by its aid 
the properties of the atmosphere ; Hobbes and Locke dis- 
coursed of the human mind, its laws and relations to matter. 
The Royal Society of Science was founded in the year of the 
Restoration, and its members were the first Englishmen who 
engaged in the really scientific study of minerals, plants, birds, 
fishes, and quadrupeds. Many foreign painters flourished dur- 
ing this period at the English court, and have left us portraits 
of all its famous men and women. Architecture received a 
new impulse from the Great Fire (§ 365), which opened a 
field for the genius of Sir Christopher Wren. He designed St. 
Paul's Cathedral as it now stands, and many other churches. 



RISE OF NEWSPAPERS. 205 



387. Newspapers, now so immense a power in the civilized 
world, made their first humble appearance in the reign of 
Charles I., and became somewhat more important in his 
son's time. James II. subjected them to a censorship. Far 
more powerful at that time were the coffee-houses, first estab- 
lished in London under Charles II. ; for coffee itself, like tea 
and chocolate, came in with the Restoration. At these places 
of entertainment wits freely discussed the actions of the gov- 
ernment ; and their opinions were eagerly heard and repeated 
by a crowd of listeners. Nobles and gentry living in the 
country often employed correspondents in town, to inform 
them of current matters of interest in government and soci- 
ety ; and by means of "news-letters," written or printed, the 
talk of the capital was repeated in every portion of the land, — 
not always to the satisfaction of the King's ministers, who 
made some ineffectual attempts to stop these currents of 
public opinion at their source. 

388. It has been said that Charles I. would never have 
rushed so blindly upon his fate, if railways, telegraphs, and 
newspapers had existed then as now. The King was ignorant 
of the temper of his people. The means of communication 
were worse than in Turkey to-day. Roads, even at the end 
of the century, were scarcely to be distinguished from the 
meadows and marshes which they traversed. Six horses were 
needed to draw a coach through the deep mud ; and all the 
highways were infested by robbers. 

389. Many religious sects had their rise in these times of 
trouble and excitement. Among the most remarkable, though 
not the most numerous, were the Quakers, whose founder was 
George Fox, a Lancashire shepherd. William Penn, one of 
their members, received a grant of lands on the Delaware 
River, as a reward for his father's services to Charles II., 
and founded the colony of Pennsylvania. The justice and 
brotherly kindness with which he treated the savage owners 
of the soil preserved his settlement from the dangers to which 



206 CENTURY OF REVOLUTIONS. 

others were subject; and Pennsylvania long enjoyed the 
blessings which naturally flow from thrift, honesty, and 
benevolence. 

RECAPITULATION. 

James II. begins his reign with a pledge to maintain the laws. 
Monmouth's Rebellion is punished by death of its leaders and mili- 
tary executions in the western counties. The King attempts to restore 
Romanism; imprisons seven bishops. England appeals to the Prince 
of Orange. Upon his landing in Tor Bay, James takes flight and dis- 
solves the government. William and Mary are declared King and 
Queen of England. 

English prosperity increased by persecutions in France. Progress 
of science. Rebuilding of London after the Great Fire. Rise of 
newspapers. Political influence of coffee-houses. Imperfect commu- 
nication through the country. Rise of the Quakers and other re- 
ligious sects. William Perm founds Pennsylvania. 

Macaulay's History of England is the best authority for the reign 
of James II. 



House of Stuart. (See p. 150.) 



Jamfs I. m. Anne of Denmark. 

I 



I I 

Chaki.es I. m. Henrietta Elizabeth m. Frederic, Elector Palatine. 

Maria of France. I 

Sophia m. Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanovf 
(See p. 215.) 



I I I 

Chari.es II. James II. m. 2, Mary ofModena. Mary m 

in. 1, Anne Hyde. 



Wil 

Prince of Orange. 



I I 

Mary m. Anne m. James Francis William, 

William III. George of Edward Stuart. Prince of Orange 

Denmark. the Old Pretender. (William III.), m. 

I Mary of England. 

Charles Edward 
Stuart, the Young 
Pretender. 



VII. WILLIAM AND MARY. 



Y a bloodless revolution, 
England had now attained 
to a free and settled govern- 
ment. The will of the na- 
tion had been recognized in 
the choice of William and 
Mary (A. D. 1689-1694) 
for its sovereigns, and the 
Whig party naturally came 
into power. King William 
was less popular than the 
cause which he represented. 
He spoke English badly, if 
at all ; was naturally cold and 
reserved in his manners ; and 
though an able general and 
statesman, lacked the easy 
grace and the cultivated 
tastes which distinguished 
the Stuart kings. 

391. The Scottish Parliament followed the example of the 
English by declaring the throne vacant and proclaiming Wil- 
liam and Mary, though a strong party in the Highlands still 
held out for James. Graham of Claverhouse, whose brutali- 
ties toward the Covenanters had been rewarded with the title 
of Viscount Dundee, defeated William's forces at the pass of 
Killiecrankie, but himself received a mortal wound. His 
Highland followers, discouraged by their loss, were soon 
either scattered or subdued. 

The MacDonalds were the last clan to avail themselves of 

(207) 




Massacre of Glencoe. 



2o8 CENTURY OF REVOLUTIONS. [A. D. 1692. 



the offered pardon. Their oath of allegiance, though late, 
was accepted ; but a month later, a company of their deadly 
foes, the Campbells, who were in William's service, appeared 
at Glencoe, the seat of the MacDonalds. Though received 
and entertained for twelve days with friendly hos- 

Fcb., 1692. . J J 

pitalitv, they suddenly attacked their hosts and 
murdered the chief with thirty of his clan. The rest, — 
chiefly women and children, — under cover of a storm, took 
refuge in the mountains, where many perished of cold and 
hunger. Sir John Dalrymple is mainly responsible for the 
' k Massacre of Glencoe'' ; yet King William's consent to it — 
though excused on the plea of neglect to read the order which 
he signed — must remain a blot on his name. 

392. Ireland was the last battle-field between the old mon- 
arch and the new. Only two towns, Londonderry and En- 
niskillen, declared for the Protestant King. The former place 
was besieged by James II., who with his cousin's aid had 
landed at Kinsale, and had been joined by a disorderly crowd 
of 50,000 men, armed chiefly with clubs. The siege lasted 
one hundred and five days, and multitudes died in the streets 
of fever or starvation ; but, at last, the besiegers had to with- 
draw, failing to wear out the patient resolution of the people. 
On the same day the Protestants of Enniskillen gained a vic- 
tory over James's forces at Newtown Butler; and a few days 
later, Marshal Schomberg, a Huguenot general in William's 
service, landed with 10,000 men and besieged Carrickfergus, 
which was quickly taken. 

393. The next summer William himself came over, and in 

the great battle of the Boyne completely destroyed 
his rival's hopes in Ireland. A naval battle off 
Beachy Head, the day before, had resulted in victory to the 
French ; but the fear of an invasion felt in England united 
the people against the "Jacobites," as the adherents of James 
were called, and so really strengthened the Orange party. 
Town after town in Ireland surrendered or was taken by 



A. D. 1694. 



DEATH OF MARY //. 



209 



storm; and by the Pacification of Limerick, the whole island 
accepted William as its king. 

394. A great naval battle off La Hogue, between the Dutch 
and English fleets on one side, and the French on the other, 
defeated the project of an invasion of England by King James. 
But William's expensive and often disastrous wars on the Con- 
tinent gave rise to much dissatisfaction ; and his most trusted 
ministers were ever ready to open a correspondence with 
James, whenever their own interests seemed likely to be 
furthered by it. Even the Princess Anne ( §§ 381, 382) was 
persuaded by her intimate friend, Lady Marlborough (see 
§ 400), to write a penitent letter to her father, whom she 
had deserted at the Revolution, desiring peace and recon- 
ciliation. 




Crown Piece. 

395. On one of the last days of 1694, Queen Mary died. 
She had been sincerely loved by her husband, and he never 
recovered from the sadness occasioned by her loss. Accord- 
ing to the Act of Settlement, William was now 

& A. D. 1694-1702. 

sole monarch of the three kingdoms. 1 he first 
year of his sole reign was marked by the abolition of the cen- 
sorship of the press, and the consequent establishment of sev- 
eral newspapers. "This act," says Lord Macaulay, '-has 
done more for liberty and civilization than the Great Charter 
or the Bill of Rights." 

Eng.— 14. 



2io CENTURY OF REVOLUTIONS. [A. D. 1697. 

3g6. By the Peace of Ryswick, 1697, Louis XIV. recog- 
nized William as the only lawful King of England, Scotland, 
and Ireland, and solemnly engaged to give no aid to any 
other claimant. The two life-long foes soon afterward en- 
tered into a treaty for the partition of the Spanish dominions. 
The Austrian line which had filled the throne of Spain for 
nearly two hundred years, was about to end in the childless 
King Charles II. ; and the succession was claimed by three 
heirs of Spanish princesses who had married into the French 
and Austrian families. Louis XIV., who was both cousin 
and brother-in-law of the Spanish sovereign, had attempted 
to seize the Netherlands in right of his wife. William did 
not look for increase of dominion to himself, but desired to 
prevent Louis from grasping the lion's share, and thereby 
exalting his power above all the states of Europe. 

397. The First Partition Treaty was annulled by the death 
of the nearest heir in 1699, and another was made in the 
following year. To prevent any such enormous dominion 
as that of Charles V. (§ 249) from falling again into the 
hands of one man, the Emperor, Leopold I., was required 
to cede his Spanish claims to his second son, the Archduke 
Charles; while Louis, in turn, conferred his rights in Spain 
upon his grandson, the Duke of Anjou, who renounced his 
hereditary claims to the throne of France. But the Second 
Treaty was also disregarded by Louis as soon as he saw his 
way clear to gain more than it had allotted to him. The 
Duke of Anjou, by the will of the Spanish King, and by 
force of arms, became at last King Philip V. of Spain, and 
sovereign of- all her rich possessions in Asia and America. 

398. On the death of James II. at St. Germains, Louis, 
in spite of. all his agreements, caused James Francis Stuart 
(§ 380) to be proclaimed as James III. of England, Scotland, 
and Ireland. This defiant act was fortunate for William, for 
it reunited all parties in England, and gave them immense 
zeal for the "War of the Spanish Succession," which was on 



A. D. 1702.] DEATH OF WILLIAM III. 



the eve of breaking out. England had for allies the Emperor 
and the Dutch Republic, who asserted the claim of the Arch- 
duke Charles of Austria to the Spanish throne. The House 
of Commons granted supplies with unusual readiness, and 
begged the King never to make peace until Louis had atoned 
for his insult to the whole English nation in the acknowledg- 
ment of the Pretender. (See Table, p. 206.) 

King William's health, however, was now failing. A fall 
from his horse, breaking his collar-bone, aggravated his dis- 
ease ; and, amidst all the preparations for war, he died at 
Hampton Court, March 8, 1702. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Whigs gain power by accession of the House of Orange. Opposi- 
tion in Scottish Highlands ended by death of Dundee and massacre 
of MacDonalds at Glencoe. Siege of Londonderry by James II. fails; 
he is defeated at Newtown Butler and in battle of the Boyne. Ireland 
submits to William. French fleet is victorious off Beachy Head, but 
defeated near La Hogue. Death of Queen Mary. William gives free- 
dom to the press. Peace of Ryswick followed by treaties with France 
for partition of the Spanish dominions. Louis XIV. proclaims "James 
III." as King of England, and Parliament prepares for War of the 
Spanish Succession. Death of King William. 

Macaulay's History is the best authority. Read, also, Burton's 
Life of William and Mary, and Van Praet's Essays on Political History, 
including the English Revolution and William III. 



VIII. REIGN OF ANNE. 




UT few of the Princess Anne's 
many children had survived 
their infancy ; and the last of 
all, George, Duke of Glouces- 
ter, died in 1700. at the age 
of eleven years. A new Act 
of Settlement soon afterward 
confirmed Anne's claim to 
succeed her brother-in-law, 
King William, but provided 

for the accession, after her death, of the Electress Sophia of 

Hanover, or her heirs. * 

After the son of James II., the nearest of blood was the 

Duchess of Savoy, who was a granddaughter of Charles I. ; 

but she was excluded under the law forbidding members of 

the Roman Church to sit upon the English throne. If this 



Gibraltar. 



* For the descent of the House of Hanover from the Stuarts, see 
Table, p. 215. 

(212) 



A. D. 1707.] MARLBORQUGWS CAMPAIGNS. 21 



law appears intolerant, we must remember that it was the 
civil supremacy of the Pope, not his spiritual claims, that the 
English people dreaded ; and must try to imagine how near 
to them were the horrors of the Inquisition, which Philip and 
Mary had so nearly fastened upon England. 

400. Queen Anne (A. D. 1702-17 14) was crowned at 
Westminster, April 23. She dismissed William's Whig min- 
istry, but announced that she should vigorously pursue his 
policy, and immediately declared war against France and 
Spain. The Earl — soon afterward Duke — of Marlborough 
was appointed to command her armies on the Continent, 
and he became the soul of the "Grand Alliance." Seldom 
has the world seen a character so strangely made up of great 
and contemptible qualities as that of Marlborough. "He 
never besieged a fortress that he did not take, nor fought a 
battle which he did not win;" and he was as great a states- 
man as general. Nevertheless, he was a traitor alike to James 
and to William, revealing the military plans of the latter to 
the French, in the hope of expelling the King and putting- 
Anne in his place ; and he accumulated an enormous fortune 
by peculation in army contracts. 

401. In concert with Eugene of Savoy, the imperial gen- 
eral, Marlborough executed, in 1704, his most brilliant cam- 
paign, ending with the battle of Blenheim, by which the 
Elector of Bavaria lost all his conquests and even his hered- 
itary dominions. Prussia soon afterward joined the Grand 
Alliance. The same year, Admiral Rooke captured the 
fortress of Gibraltar, the strongest in the world, which has 
ever since continued to be a British possession. 

May 23, 1706. 

By a great victory over the French at Ramillies, 
Marlborough conquered Brabant and almost the whole of 
Spanish Flanders. 

402. The year 1707 was distinguished by the Union of 
England and Scotland under the name of Great Britain. 



2 14 CENTURY OF REVOLUTIONS. [A. D. 1707. 



This event, so long desired by the English kings (§§ 162, 
241, 264, 269), had been attained for a few years under 
Cromwell, but reversed by the Restoration. The United 
Kingdoms were now represented by one Parliament, to 
which sixteen peers and forty-five commoners were elected 
from Scotland. Scotland, like England, accepted the Elect- 
ress Sophia or her next heir as its future sovereign. (See 
Table, p. 215.) 

403. Louis XIV., now old and infirm, saw fortune turn 
against him, and was forced to beg for peace. He proposed 
that his grandson should give up the Spanish crown, and 
content himself with Naples and Sicily ; but the allies refused 
him even these, and the war went on. Marlborough's influ- 
ence at home was now, however, undermined by the Tories, 
who accused him of prolonging the war in order to increase 
his profits from army contracts. His wife's violent temper 
had offended the Queen, who found a new confidant in Mrs. 
Masham, one of her bed-chamber women. 

404. Events abroad, meanwhile, altered the views of the 
English ministers concerning the Spanish succession. The 
Emperor Joseph I. died, and his brother, the Archduke 
Charles, was elected to succeed him. If now he made good 
his claim to the crown of Spain, the world would see another 
Austro-Spanish dominion overshadowing all Europe, as in the 
days of Charles V. (§397). Conferences were accordingly 
begun at Utrecht in Holland; and on the last day of March, 
r 7 13, peace was signed between England and the Dutch 
states on the one side, and France on the other. England 
kept Gibraltar and Minorca, the two keys to the Mediterra- 
nean, and received from France Newfoundland and Hudson's 
Bay in North America, with St. Christopher's in the West 
Indies. Louis agreed also to demolish the fortifications of 
Dunkirk, which had been a nest of privateers preying on 
English commerce. In return, England recognized the 
French King of Spain. 



A. D. 17 14.] LAST OF THE STUARTS. 215 

405. In August, 1 7 14, Queen Anne died. The aged 
Electress Sophia had preceded her by two months, — order- 
ing a crown to be placed on her coffin, since she had missed 
the eagerly desired privilege of wearing it in life. As a lit- 
erary era, Queen Anne's age was marked rather by neatness 
and polish of style than by great thoughts or deep emotions. 
Pope was the most artificial of English poets. Addison, one 
of the most charming prose-writers in our language, joined 
his friend Steele in producing the Tatler and afterward the 
Spectator, forerunners of the literary magazines of our day. 

RECAPITULATION. 

By new Act of Settlement, Parliament confers the succession to the 
English crown upon the German House of Brunswick! Anne's great 
general, the Duke of Marlborough, gains victories for the Grand Alli- 
ance, in War of the Spanish Succession. Gibraltar taken by the English. 
Union of England and Scotland. Mrs. Masham succeeds Duchess of 
Marlborough in ascendancy over the Queen. Archduke Charles be- 
coming emperor, Great Britain withdraws from the Alliance; makes 
peace with France by Treaty of Utrecht ; recognizes Philip V. as King 
of Spain. Death of Electress Sophia and of Queen Anne. 

Read: Burton's History of the Reign of Queen Anne ; Thackeray's 
Henry Esmond. 



House of Hanover (Brunswick). 



Sophia. (See page 206.) 

George I. m. Sophia Dorothea of Zell. 

I 
George II. m. Caroline of Brandenburg- Anspach. 

I 
Frederic, Prince of Wales, m. Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. 

I 
George III. m, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. 

I 



George IV. m. William IV. Edward, Duke of Kent, m. Ernest, Duke of 
Caroline of Victoria of Saxe-Coburg. Cumberland. 

Brunswick. ■ Kil >g of Hanover. 

I Victoria m. Albert of 

Charlotte d. 1817. Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. 



QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 



PART IV. 

1. Describe James I. of England and his theory of govern- 

ment - §303, 305, 306, 3*3 

2. The last years of Walter Raleigh. 304 

3. What religious parties in England? 306, 307, 389 

4. What colonies wei-e planted in James's time? 308, 309 

5. Tell the story of Parliamentary opposition to James I. and 

his son. 3 J o-3i2, 314-318, 324-327 

6. Of the Duke of Buckingham and the French 

wars. 313, 317, 318 

7- Of John Hampden. 316, 321, 322, 330 

8. Of Thomas Wentworth. 319, 324 

9. Of Archbishop Laud. 320, 324 
10. Of the Long Parliament. 

324, 325, 329, 331-333, 338, 339, 353, 359 
n. Describe its war policy. 35°-35 2 

12. What occurred during this period in Ireland? 326, 344, 345, 349 

13. Describe the army of Charles I. 328, 334 

14. The beginning of the Civil Wars. 328-331 

15. What differences among the King's opponents? 332, 333, 337-339 

16. Describe Cromwell's army. 334 

17. The captivity, trial, and death pf Charles I. 336-343 

18. Tell the history of Charles II. 

344, 346-348, 358, 36i, 363, 365, 367, 370, 375 

19. Of Oliver Cromwell. 322, 332-335, 339, 344-348, 353-35 8 

20. Of the wars of the Commonwealth. 35°-35 2 , 355 

21. What events followed the death of Cromwell? 358-360 

22. What persecuting acts under Charles II. ? 362, 373 

23. What calamities visited London in 1666? 365 

24. What American province concpaered from the Dutch? 364 

25. What changes in England's rank among European powers 

within a hundred years? 367 

(216) 



QL-ESTWXS FOR REVIEW. 217 



26. Describe the excitement concerning the Popish Plot. ## 368-371 

27. The Rye House Plot and its victims. 371, 372 

28. What foreign princes married daughters of the Duke of 

York ? 374 

29. Describe Monmouth's Rebellion and its results. 377, 378 

30. The character and policy of James II. 376-380, 382, 383 

31. What led to the Revolution of 1688? 380-384 

32. Describe the condition of England at that time. 385, 388 
^^. What intellectual progress was made? 386, 387 

34. What principles of government were represented by Wil- 

liam and Mary ? 390 

35. How was their power established in Scotland and Ireland ? 391-393 

36. What part was taken by William in the Spanish Question ? 396-398 

37. By what right did the House of Brunswick come to the 

British throne ? 399 

38. Describe the War of the Spanish Succession. 400-404 



PART V.- HOUSE OF BRUNS- 
WICK. 



I. GEORGE I. AND II. 



(Bljllsr jjl Dublin, and was acknowledged by 

SyBpBljP-- tdl ^y an insurrection in Scotland under 

Rising of the clans. tender " had none of the qualities 

of a successful leader; he bewailed 

his troubles, instead of bravely meeting and conquering them ; 

and after a repulse from Perth, he stole away to the sea and 

returned to France, leaving his deluded followers to their fate. 

(218) 



A. D. 1716.] QUADRUPLE ALLIANCE. 219 



Lords Kenmure and Derwentwater were beheaded at Lon- 
don, while the Earl of Nithisdale was rescued from the same 
punishment only by the wit and determination of his wife, 
who contrived his escape from prison the night before the 
execution. The Regent of France soon afterward made a 
treaty of friendship with England, and the exiled Stuarts, 
with their impoverished court, took up an abode at Rome. 

408. Louis XIV. was now dead, after a reign of seventy- 
two years. His great-grandson was but five years old at his 
accession, and the Duke of Orleans, nephew of the late King, 
was intrusted with the regency. The renunciation of all claim 
to the French crown by Philip V. of Spain (§ 397), left only 
the fragile life of Louis XV. between the Regent and the 
throne. The King of England and the Regent had, there- 
fore, a common interest in maintaining that the line of suc- 
cession could be altered by treaties or legislative act; while 
the King of Spain and the Stuarts upheld the principle of 
hereditary descent by absolute divine right, insisting that 
Philip V. could not, even by the most solemn oath, bar his 
own claim to the throne of France, while James III. must 
be rightfully King of England, in spite of Exclusion Bills, 
Acts of Settlement, and the almost unanimous consent of the 
people. France and England accordingly joined with the 
Empire and the Dutch States in a Quadruple Alliance to 
maintain the peace of Europe. 

409. This was threatened at once by the mad ambition of 
Charles XII. of Sweden and by Philip of Spain, who had 
seized Sardinia and some towns in Sicily — this island having 
been given, by the Treaty of Utrecht, to the Duke of Savoy. 
Both parties tried to use the Stuart prince as a weapon against 
Great Britain. Charles XII., having a quarrel with George 
I. as Elector of Hanover, concerning some provinces on the 
Baltic Sea, was ready to invade Scotland with 12,000 men, 
when his sudden death put an end to the danger. The 
British people saw with displeasure that they were to be 



220 HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. [A. D. 1719. 

drawn into continental disputes in which they had no in- 
terest. The King, moreover, spoke no English, but felt 
and acted merely as a German prince, and never seemed 
contented except during his yearly visits to Hanover. 

410. The bursting of the South Sea Bubble, as it was 
called, was* among the marked events of the first George's 
reign. The South Sea Company, which had an exclusive right 
A _ to trade with the Spanish colonies in America, 

A. D. 1719. l 

bought up the government annuities with the 
privilege of paying the holders in its own stock. A rage for 
speculation seized the English people, who fancied that the 
scrip of the Company was a sure passport to enormous wealth. 
Lords, ladies, and bishops, not less than a throng of poor 
scholars and artisans, hastened to invest their savings. Days 
were not long enough nor counting-rooms large enough to 
accommodate the eager crowd ; but desks were ranged along 
the streets, and lined with a host of clerks to receive sub- 
scriptions. Other adventurers, encouraged by the universal 
madness, founded new companies which obtained their share 
of the popular favor. 

At length the bubble burst: the Company was found una- 
ble to fulfill more than a very small fraction of its promises 
to pay; and multitudes who had dreamed themselves rich, 
awoke to beggary. Robert Walpole, who, almost alone in 
the nation, had retained his good sense, and had warned his 
countrymen against the ruin that must come, now became 
First Lord of the Treasury, and continued at the head of 
affairs twenty-one years. 

411. Just as a new war was threatening Europe, George I. 

died in Hanover, whither he had gone for his annual visit. 

^ His son, George II., was now forty-four years 

A. D. 1727-1760. . J J 

of age, — a dull, conceited little despot; but he 
spoke English, and was, therefore, more popular than his 
father. He was, moreover, controlled — though uncon- 
sciously — by his wife, the beautiful and sensible Caroline, 



A. D. 1740.] AUSTRIAN SUCCESS/OX. 221 

who persuaded him, contrary to his first intentions, to recall 
his father's old ministers, with Walpole at their head. 

412. Peace and a defensive alliance were concluded, in 
1729, with Spain and France, who were subsequently joined 
by Holland. But the old rivalries still raged between the 
English and Spanish traders. Not only was there a colonial 
quarrel concerning the boundary of Georgia and Florida, 
but the Spaniards insisted upon searching English vessels 
upon the seas for contraband goods. In one of these visita- 
tions, the Spanish captain, though he found nothing to seize, 
wantonly tore off the ear of the English ship-master, Jenkins 
by name, and told him to carry it to King George, with the 
message that, had the Spaniards caught His Majesty, they 
would have served him in the same way. The story of this 
outrage raised a storm of indignation in England ; and Wal- 
pole, against his will, was forced into a war, which was de- 
clared in 1739. Porto Bello, a Spanish trading post on the 
Isthmus of Darien, was taken by the English ; but their 
assault on the still more important post of Gartagena was 
repulsed with great loss. 

413. This colonial contest was soon merged in the general 
War of the Austrian Succession (A. D. 1 740-1 748). The 
Emperor Charles VI., having no son, wished to secure all 
his hereditary dominions to his daughter, Maria Theresa, 
and had persuaded most of the governments of Europe to 
guarantee his Pragmatic Sanction to this end. Upon his 
death, the Archduchess was proclaimed and accepted as 
sovereign of Hungary, Bohemia, Austria, etc. ; but the 
Bourbons, both in France and Spain, sustained the preten- 
sions of her cousin, the Elector of Bavaria, who was elected 
emperor as Charles VII. 

Frederic the Great, King of Prussia, began hostilities by 
seizing the province of Silesia, part of which had been in 
dispute between his ancestors and the Austrian rulers. Eng- 
land alone stood by her agreement with the Emperor, and 



HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. [A. D. 1743. 



steadily supported his daughter. Parliament voted liberal 
supplies; and the King himself, with his son, the Duke of 
Cumberland, took an active part in the war. Both were 
present in the battle of Dettingen, June 27, 1743, where 
their hard-won victory drove the French out of Germany. 

414. The King's partiality for his German subjects of- 
fended the English, who saw their country reduced to a 
mere province of Hanover. The French took advantage 
of their discontent, and of the absence of George II. from 
his kingdom, to plan an invasion of Great Britain by Charles 
Edward Stuart, grandson of James II. His father (§ 406) 
had lost what little spirit he ever possessed, and contented 
himself with issuing a proclamation from Rome, in which he 
appointed his son Regent of England during his absence ! 

The first attempt was defeated by a tempest which wrecked 
the French fleet, and destroyed a great part of the army de- 
signed for the invasion. In 1745, however, the young ad- 
venturer again embarked, and landed in Scotland with only 
seven attendants. His weapons of war had been lost in the 
passage. The French had grown cold in his cause, but the 
romantic loyalty of the Scots led several chiefs and their clans 
to join him to the number of 1,500 men. They took the 
town of Edinburgh by surprise, proclaimed ''King James 
the Eighth," and held a grand ball at Holyrood Palace in 
honor of his accession. 

415. At Prestonpans a victory was gained over the Eng- 
lish, with the capture of a train of artillery, which the 
"Young Pretender" greatly needed. He was soon master 
of all Scotland, except the castles of Edinburgh and Stirling, 
and a few forts in the Highlands. The French, now believ- 
ing in his success, sent him arms and money, and he was 
ready for the invasion of England. He advanced as far as 
Derby, and nothing apparently prevented his march on Lon- 
don. Shops were closed ; business suspended ; and a great 
panic of terror seized the people of the capital, while their 



A. D. 1756.] BATTLE OF CULLODEN. 223 



King, who had now returned, began to embark his treasures 
for a flight to the Continent. 

But the Pretender was disappointed of any great accessions 
in England, while a royal fleet cruising in the Channel pre- 
vented an invasion from France. Forces double or treble 
his own in numbers began to gather around him, and reluc- 
tantly he fell back on Glasgow. The dashing bravery of his 
Highlanders won him a victory near Falkirk; but all his 
hopes were crushed by the sudden and complete rout of his 
forces at Culloden Moor, near Inverness. After 
wandering five months in hardship and peril, the 
Young Pretender made his escape over seas. The victorious 
Duke of Cumberland exacted a terrible vengeance from the 
Scots, and his brutalities fixed upon him the unenviable name 
of " the Butcher." 

416. Meanwhile, affairs on the Continent had changed by 
the death of the Emperor Charles VII., and the election of 
Maria Theresa's husband, Francis of Lorraine, to wear the 
crown of Charlemagne. The war went on with vigor, not 
only in Europe but on the sea and in North America, where 
Louisbourg, on Cape Breton Island, was taken by a force 
from Massachusetts. But England grew tired of a war in 
which the greatest expense and the least profit fell to her 
share, while sheer exhaustion drove the other powers to 
make peace. By the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle 

11 ♦ * A T -At ° Ct -' I748 ' 

all conquests were restored. I o provide for 
British soldiers and sailors, now discharged from service, 
a colony was formed in Nova Scotia, with the new town of 
Halifax for its capital. Free passage, fifty acres of land to 
each settler, and exemption from taxes for ten years, were 
the inducements to emigrate. 

417. A new war broke out in 1755, known in Europe as 
the "Seven Years' War," but in America as the "French 
and Indian War." England was now allied with Prussia, 
while Maria Theresa had France, Spain, Saxony, and Russia 



224 HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. [A. D. 1757. 

upon her side. The French made haste to seize Minorca 
(§ 404) before the British could reinforce it. The govern- 
ment as then constituted was indeed so weak, or so blind 
to the indications of danger, that, on the eve of a universal 
war, Great Britain had barely three regiments fit for the 
field, while the navy was almost equally inefficient. 

So great was the popular indignation in England at the loss 
of the "key to the Mediterranean, 1 ' that Admiral Byng, the 
unfortunate commander of a small and ill-equipped relief fleet, 
was brought to trial and shot — though acquitted of either 
treachery or cowardice — for not having defeated the French. 
When passion had cooled, it was felt that the brave Admiral 
had suffered for the fault of the ministry, and the Duke of 
Newcastle was forced to resign. William Pitt, the ' ' Great 
Commoner," now came into power; and his energetic spirit 
was soon felt, infusing vigor into British movements in every 
quarter of the globe. 

418. The hero of this war was Frederic the Great, who 
had all continental Europe leagued against him ; but his 
wonderful military genius could not have gained the day 
without the firm friendship and generous subsidies of Pitt. 
The Duke of Cumberland had been driven from Hanover 
by the French, and, in the Convention of Kloster Seven, 
agreed to disband his army. Deserted thus by his only ally, 
Frederic was almost driven to despair ; but his brilliant vic- 
tories of Rossbach and Leuthen retrieved his fortunes ; while 
Mr. Pitt, then just come to the head of the British govern- 
ment, refused to confirm the "Convention," and sent a fresh 
army into Germany. 

419. In America, the French, who had settlements on the 
St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, desired to unite these dis- 
tant posts by a chain of forts in the rear of the English col- 
onies, while they stirred up the native savages, who were 
usually their allies, to fall upon the defenseless villages of 
New England. Pitt's strong hand was felt in American 



A. D. 1760.] BRITISH INDIA. 225 

forests no less than on German battle-fields. Fort Duquesne, 
at the junction of the two branches which form the Ohio, 
was taken by a colonial force, and received the 

. . . Nov., 1758. 

name of Pittsburgh, in honor of the great min- 
ister. Forts Niagara and Ticonderoga were taken the next 
year, while the still greater conquest of Quebec was made 
by Gen. Wolfe. 

420. In India, yet more brilliant and important victories 
led to the foundation of a great British Empire. (See Sketch 
Map of Hindustan, p. 258.) The East India Company pos- 
sessed, at the beginning of the war, only the three trading 
stations of Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta, each guarded by 
a small fort. The remarkable genius of Robert Clive, a 
poor clerk of the Company, had been shown in the capture 
and defense of Arcot against the French and their Hindu 
allies; and still more signally in his vengeance upon the 
Surajah Dowlah, Viceroy of Bengal. 

This brutal wretch, in June, 1756, seized Calcutta, and 
thrust one hundred and fifty English captives into a dungeon 
so small that nearly all perished in agonies of thirst and suffo- 
cation during a single night. Clive, with only 1,000 English 
and 2,000 native troops, recaptured Calcutta, and inflicted on 
Surajah Dowlah and his 64,000 Asiatics a complete and ruin- 
ous defeat. The successors of Dowlah ceded to the English 
all the land between Calcutta and the sea, and the petty trad- 
ing post grew into the magnificent capital of British India. 

421. The great Mogul, or Mongol, Empire in Hindustan 
was now crumbling, and its twenty-one provinces were nearly 
independent. By taking part in the ceaseless rivalries and 
contentions between these several states, the British acquired 
controlling influence and then absolute power, until, in the 
course of a century, the whole vast peninsula from the 
Himalayas to the southernmost point of Ceylon, was either 
tributary or immediately subject to their sway. The French — 
who had first conceived the idea of building up a European 

Eng.— IK. 



226 HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. [A. D. 1760. 



empire on the ruins of the Mogul, and who had first taken 
the necessary step of training native soldiers to serve under 
European officers — were driven from all their conquests. 

In 1760, King George II. suddenly died; and as his eldest 
son, Frederic, had preceded him, he was followed on the 
throne by his grandson, George the Third. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Elector of Hanover becomes King of Great Britain. James Stuart 
invades Scotland without success. Alliance of English King and 
French Regent to oppose strict hereditary succession. Great Britain 
under George I. and George II. a " province of Hanover." Multi- 
tudes made poor by the South Sea Scheme. Accession of George II. 
Affair of Jenkins's ear leads to war with Spain. In War of the Aus- 
trian Succession, England takes part with Maria Theresa ; gains battle 
of Dettingen. Invasion of Great Britain by the Young Pretender, 
aided by the French. His success in Scotland ; failure in England ; 
rout at Culloden. Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ends War of Austrian 
Succession. 

In Seven Years' War, Great Britain and Prussia are allied against 
all Europe. Loss of Minorca ; execution of Admiral Byng. Pitt 
becomes Prime Minister. Brilliant victories of Frederic the Great. 
Capture of principal French forts in North America. Foundation of 
British Empire in India. Accession of George III. 

Read: Stanhope's (Lord Mahon's) History of England from the 
Peace of Uh-echt to the Peace of Versailles ; Lecky's History of England in 
the Eighteenth Century ; Thackeray's Lectures on The Four Georges, and 
The English Humorists ; Mrs. Oliphant's Sketches of Noted Characters in 
the Reign of Geo. II.; Parkman's Montcalm una Wolfe; Macaulay's 
essays on Clive and Frederic the Great. 



II. REIGN OF GEORGE III. 




A Hessian and Officer. 



HREE kings, Henry, Edward, 
- and George, each the third 
of his name, have had the 
longest reigns in English his- 
tory ; and of these reigns, the 
longest and most eventful is 
the one upon which we are 
now to enter (A. D. 1760- 
1820). Unlike his two pred- 
ecessors, George III. was born 
and educated in England ; and 
in his opening address to Par- 
liament he declared that he 
1 ' gloried in the name of 
Briton." The bitter feeling 
between Hanoverians and Jac- 
obites had now died out, and 
some of the chief adherents 
of the Stuarts accepted places 
in the young King's house- 
hold. 



423. The war would soon have ended but for a new 
"Family Compact" of the three Bourbon sovereigns in 
France, Spain, and Naples. Mr. Pitt, who had the earliest 
intelligence of this treaty, wished to strike the first blow 
against Spain by seizing her supplies of gold and silver on 
their way from her American colonies. But the King, who 
hated Pitt, rejected his advice, and the Minister resigned. 
His place was filled by the Earl of Bute, a favorite and obe- 
dient tool of the King. Pitt's foresight was justified; for war 
was declared against Spain, in January, 1762; and British 

(227) 



228 HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. [A. D. 1762. 

squadrons, sailing to opposite sides of the globe, captured 
Havana in Cuba with all the Caribbee Islands, and the 
Philippines, as well as many richly laden vessels. 

British arms being every-where triumphant, propositions 
were again made for a peace ; and the Seven Years' War 
was closed by a treaty signed at Paris, Feb. 10, 1763. 
France ceded to Great Britain all her settlements on the 
River and Gulf of St. Lawrence, and gave back Minorca in 
exchange for Belleisle, a little island on her own coast which 
had been captured by the English. England restored Havana 
and the Philippine Islands to Spain, in exchange for Florida. 

424. The peace, though confirmed by Parliament, was 
odious to the British people ; and the startling fact now came 
to light that the House of Commons had ceased to represent 
the nation. Boroughs were constantly bought and sold by 
great landholders ; so that at one time the Duke of New- 
castle appointed one-third of all the country members of 
the House. Since the last apportionment of representatives, 
some boroughs, like Old Sarum, had lost their last inhab- 
itant — the seat in Parliament continuing to be filled, as a 
matter of course, by some neighboring squire ; while great 
towns, like Manchester and Birmingham, had risen with the 
growth of trade and manufactures, but had no representatives 
at all. In 8,000,000 of English people, only 160,000 had 
the right to vote. 

425. The public opinion, thus shut out of Parliament, 
found its true representation in the press, and newspapers 
now began to constitute a "Fourth Estate" which is' some- 
times more powerful than all the rest. John Wilkes, in his 

journal, the North Briton, denounced the peace 

A. D. 1763. J . 1 

and attacked the minister ; and Lord Bute, though 
supported by King, Lords, and Commons, had to yield to 
the storm of popular fury and resign his place. Wilkes was 
a bad man, but the unjust prosecution and imprisonment to 
which he was subjected by the Court, made him the repre- 



A. D. 1764.I THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 229 



sentative, though unworthy, of three great principles of 
English freedom. Since his time, no man has been arrested 
on a "general warrant"; the need of parliamentary reform 
has been admitted, and the suffrage extended ; while news- 
papers have enjoyed the fullest liberty to criticise the acts of 
the government. 

426. Under the ministry of Grenville, who succeeded Bute, 
events occurred of immense importance both to England and 
America. The English colonies on the Atlantic coast had 
now grown into thirteen states, containing about two millions 
of white people and half a million of negroes, mostly slaves. 
All except Connecticut had governors appointed by the King ; 
but each had also a "House of Assembly'' elected by the 
people. The mother-country had first despised and neglected 
these obscure states in the wilderness, then had grown proud 
of their prosperity, and then jealous of their power. They 
were permitted no trade except with English ports ; and their 
manufactures were forbidden to grow beyond a certain meas- 
ure, lest they should compete with those of the parent-land. 

427. The war which so greatly increased the foreign pos- 
sessions of England, had borne heavily upon her colonies in 
America. The savage natives, always treacherous and cruel, 
had been stirred up to fierce hostility by the French, and 
had fallen on many exposed settlements, burning, plundering, 
or murdering whatever came within their reach. The colo- 
nists felt, therefore, that they had sustained their full share 
of the expenses and exposures of the war. Grenville deter- 
mined, however, to extend to the American provinces a stamp 
tax, which had already been imposed upon the three king- 
doms. The Americans replied that no burden could be laid 
upon them by a Parliament in which they were not repre- 
sented; but that if the King would intimate what sum they 
were expected to contribute to his service, the House of 
Assembly in each colony would deliberate upon the matter, 
precisely as was done by the Commons at home. 



230 HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. [A. D. 1765. 



428. The passage of the "Stamp Act" caused a deep and 
painful excitement in the colonies. Virginia took the lead in 
remonstrance ; and a Congress of representatives from all the 

colonies met at New York to protest against " tax- 

Oct., 1765. . . . 

ation without representation." Yielding partly to 
the popular feeling, a new ministry in 1766 repealed the Stamp 
Act, but, at the same time, reasserted the supremacy of Par- 
liament "in all cases whatsoever." To enforce this principle, 
a slight tax was imposed in America, the following year, on 
tea, glass, paper, and painters' colors. 

Pitt — soon created Earl of Chatham and placed at the 
head of the ministry — was a firm friend of the colonies and 
opponent of taxation ; but illness withdrew him from public 
life, and after some other changes, Lord North became 
prime minister. All the duties were repealed, except a petty 
tax of three pence per pound on tea; but this contained the 
whole principle for which the colonists were contending. 
American ladies leagued themselves to abstain from the use 
of the article, and a number of Bostonians even went on 
board the tea-ships by night and threw the whole cargo 
into the water, destroying property worth, perhaps, $90,000. 
Similar cargoes arriving at Charleston, Philadelphia, and 
New York, were either detained in store-houses or sent 
back to England. 

429. Boston was punished by an embargo, and all her 
port privileges were transferred to Salem, while the charter 
of Massachusetts was annulled. The best men in the colo 
nies were now alarmed. A general Congress at Philadelphia 
claimed for the colonists all the liberties of Englishmen, and 
suspended commerce with the mother-country until redress 
of grievances was guaranteed. Addresses were voted to their 
fellow-colonists of Canada, to the people of Great Britain, 
and to the King; and another Congress was called to meet 
in May, 1775. 

430. A British force of 10,000 men was soon concentrated 



A. D. 1776.] WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 231 

at Boston, and the first battle, or skirmish, in the War of 
American Independence was fought at Lexington, Massa- 
chusetts, April 19, 1775. A party of the British, who had 
destroyed some stores at Concord, were pursued and routed 
by the colonial militia with great loss. Gen. Gage was block- 
aded in Boston by 20,000 colonial troops. The forts of 
Ticonderoga and Crown Point were seized, and the key to 
Canada was thus secured. The battle of Bunker Hill re- 
sulted in the dislodgment of the Americans from that strong 
position ; but their brave resistance, and the severe loss they 
inflicted on the British, made it a moral victory. 

The Congress now in session at Philadelphia appointed 
Gen. George Washington to command the colonial forces, 
and took measures for raising both men and money for the 
war. Their petition to the King, desiring peace and recon- 
ciliation, was contemptuously rejected, and he expressed 
publicly to Parliament his determination to put down the 
rebellion by force. 

431. Detachments of the British fleet burned Norfolk in 
Virginia and Portland in Maine. An invasion of Canada 
during the winter of 1775, '76, proved the spirit and endur- 
ance of the colonists, but failed to draw the Canadians into 
the War of Independence. It might have been thought that 
the French colonists on the north and the Spaniards on the 
south (§ 423), who had been only eight years subject to 
Great Britain, would have been among the first to throw off 
her voke ; but they were less thoroughly educated in the 
principles of civil freedom than were the descendants of 
those who won Magna Charta and the Bill of Rights, or 
who conducted the great revolutions of the seventeenth 
century in England. 

432. The colonial leaders, who had begun as loyal sub- 
jects, with only a request for just government, 

. . July, 1776. 

were compelled by the King's violence to become 

the founders of an independent republic. Their Declaration 



232 HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. [A. D. 1776. 

detailed the wrongs inflicted on the colonists ; and having 
reaffirmed the principle (§ 339) that "governments derive 
their just powers from the consent of the governed," as- 
serted that ' ' these colonies are, and of right ought to be, 
independent states." The paper was signed by all the 
members of Congress, and approved by the several state 
governments. 

433. A few days later, Lord Howe arrived in New York 
Bay with fresh forces, — many of them German mercenaries, — 
but also with full powers to treat for peace. To this end he 
addressed a letter to " G. Washington, Esq." The General 
returned it unopened, with the remark that, as a private 
person, he held no communication with the enemies of his 
country. A committee appointed by Congress to treat with 
Howe declared that peace was now impossible, except upon 
the basis of American independence. 

434. The defeat of the American army on Long Island 
threw New York open to the British, and they held that im- 
portant city until the end of the war. The Americans were 
driven west of the Delaware, while the British and Hessian 
troops dispersed themselves in winter quarters in the Jerseys ; 
but Washington, by a sudden and brilliant movement, sur- 
prised them at Princeton and drove them almost wholly from 
the state. The aim of the British was to gain the Hudson 
River, and separate the Eastern from the Middle and South- 
ern States. This was nearly accomplished by the treason of 
Benedict Arnold, who agreed to deliver up West Point. The 
messenger of Lord Howe was fortunately captured before 
the surrender could take place. 

435- Gen. Burgoyne was charged with a more difficult 

and honorable part in the undertaking. He advanced from 

Canada; but he was surrounded by superior numbers near 

Saratoga, and was forced to surrender his entire 

command. This was the turning point in the 

American Revolution. The French government soon after- 



A. D. 1781.] SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS. 233 



ward acknowledged the independence of the United States, 
and entered with them into a treaty of commerce and alliance. 
Spain and Holland followed the example of France; while 
the northern nations proclaimed an "Armed Neutrality," 
which enabled them to supply the colonists with warlike 
stores. Spain besieged Gibraltar; the French fleets captured 
some of the British West India Islands ; and the Spaniards 
made prizes of English vessels laden with treasure from both 
sides of the globe. 

436. The war, which had at first been popular in England, 
Mas now becoming odious. The King's arbitrary temper 
alarmed his subjects at home, who began to feel that the 
colonists had only maintained the common rights of English- 
men against the tyranny of the crown. Lord North was now 
ready, though too late, to yield all the original demands. 
He disavowed the right of Parliament to tax the colonies. 
A bill was introduced into Parliament recommending peace 
at any price, even to the acknowledgment of American 
independence. Lord Chatham, though prostrated by illness, 
made one last effort to oppose this measure, which he re- 
garded as a dismemberment of the British Empire at the 
bidding of France, He spoke with his old eloquence; but 
his dying powers were too severely taxed, and he fell into 
convulsions from which he never recovered. 

437. The last decisive action of the war in America was 
the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, with his whole 

. . . Oct., 1781. 

army, at Yorktown in Virginia, though peace was 
not concluded until more than a year later. The British 
navy, meanwhile, gained victories over Dutch and French 
fleets in several quarters of the globe ; but Minorca was lost, 
and an attempt upon the Dutch settlements in South Africa 
failed. The most brilliant victory was that of Admiral Rod- 
ney over the French fleet of the Count de Grasse, which was 
threatening Jamaica. Gibraltar withstood a three years' siege 
by French and Spanish forces, until the hungry garrison were 



234 HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. [A. D. 1782. 

compelled to feed on roots and mosses, when it was relieved 
by Lord Howe. 

438. Lord North's administration of twelve years was now 
ended, and a Whig ministry accepted power only on condition 
of peace with America. In November, 1782, a treaty was 
signed at Versailles by which Great Britain acknowledged the 
independence of her late colonies between the St. Croix and 
the St. John. In the January following, peace 
was concluded with France and Spain, and, a few 
months later, with Holland. All conquests were restored, 
except that France kept Tobago and the forts on the Senegal 
in Africa, while Spain gained Florida and Minorca. 

The war with her colonies added ^£100,000,000 to the 
debt of Great Britain. The separation was a mutual benefit. 
Commerce with the free United States has added far more to 
British wealth than all possible taxation of the colonies could 
have done; and community of language, literature, religion, 
and domestic habits is a better bond of friendship than forced 
allegiance. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Reunion of Whigs and Tories under George III. Bute succeeds 
Pitt as prime minister. End of Seven Years' War. England gains 
all British America from France, and Florida from Spain. House of 
Commons failing to represent public opinion in England, newspapers 
become powerful. Prosecution of Wilkes for attacks upon the govern- 
ment. Defeat of the ministry. 

Growth of American colonies; restriction of their trade and manu- 
factures; their sufferings from French and Indian War. Resistance 
to "taxation without representation." Boston punished for her "tea- 
party"; is occupied by a British army. Remonstrances of Congress. 
Blockade of British in Boston. Battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill. 
Declaration of American Independence. New York occupied by Brit- 
ish, who fail to seize the Hudson through Andre's capture and Bur- 
goyne's defeat. France, Spain, and Holland become allies of the 
United States, Surrender of Cornwallis and end of the war, 



III. WARS OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. 




George III. in his Old Age. 



OON after the American war, William 
Pitt, second son of Lord Chatham, 
came to the head of the ministry. 
The impeachment of Warren Hast- 
ings for misrule and extortion in 
. India, recalls our attention to that 
rich and populous country. The 
English rulers were doubtless far 
less cruel and extortionate than the 
native princes ; but the Company's 
servants amassed enormous for- 
tunes; and even Clive, notwith- 
standing his great services, was 
subjected at home to an inquiry 
which drove him to despair and 
suicide. Warren Hastings was the 
first Governor-general of India, — the two presidencies of 
Madras and Bombay being now made subject to that of 
Bengal, of which Calcutta was the capital (§ 420). 

440. His prudent and energetic conduct during the war 
with France had increased the power and wealth of the 
Company; but his treatment of the natives — for example, 
his loan of British regiments to one of the worst of Hindu 
tyrants, for the conquest of the free Rohillas, and his rob- 
bery of the princesses of Oude — was often cruel and unjust. 
He, too, was brought to trial before the bar of 
the House of Lords, and impeached by the great 
orator, Edmund Burke, of "high crimes and misdemeanors." 
The trial lasted seven years. Hastings was at last acquitted. 
It was proved that the directors at home were chiefly respon- 
sible for his extortions, through their ceaseless demand for 

(235) 



Feb., 1786. 



236 HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. [A. D. 1789. 

large remittances, even when the treasury was drained by 
costly wars. By the motion of Mr. Pitt, a Board of Control 
was appointed for Indian affairs, which greatly limited the 
power of the Company. 

441. The great Revolution which broke out in France in 
1789, became the occasion of wars in which all Europe was 
involved. The British people, proud of their own freedom, 
rejoiced at first in the prospect of their neighbors' emancipa- 
tion; and the most hopeful spirits prophesied a universal 
reign of peace and brotherly love to spring from the over- 
throw of oppression. The French people regarded the trial 
and execution of Charles I. (§ 342) as models for their own 
proceedings against Louis XVI. But the resemblance was 
only external. The English revolutions of 1648 and 1688 
were conducted with strict respect to law and public order; 
the French revolution was disgraced by horrid scenes of 
bloodshed and sacrilege. 

The French declared themselves brothers and allies of all 
who desired the overthrow of monarchy; and the European 
sovereigns soon combined their forces to suppress so danger- 
ous an example to their own subjects. Great Britain, as 
usual, furnished men and money to the continental cam-" 
paigns, while her fleets attacked the French possessions in 
the East and West Indies. 

442. In 1794, the French armies overran the Austrian 
Netherlands, which then constituted themselves the Belgian 
Republic. Holland, too, was conquered,. and its stadtholder, 
with many nobles, took refuge in England. Before many 
years, the French Directory had raised up a group of sister 
republics, — the Batavian, Belgian, Ligurian, Venetian, and 
Parthenopeian, — and desired also to place a "Hibernian 
Republic" in the rear of England. A formidable body of 
armed insurgents, known as the "United Irishmen," awaited 
the arrival of a French army to cast off the British yoke and 
proclaim the Republic. But the combined French and Bata- 



A. D. 1801.] NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 237 

vian fleets were defeated off Camperdown, — the French and 
Spanish, off Cape St. Vincent; so that, foreign help failing, 
the Irish insurrection was easily put down. 

The massacres on both sides which attended this unhappy 
rebellion, rekindled religious enmities which have not even 
yet subsided. The leaders were hanged; a wretched crowd 
of the populace were shot down at Vinegar Hill, near Ennis- 
corthy. A French force arrived too late, and surrendered 
with all its arms. A fleet laden with ammunition and fresh 
troops was captured shortly afterward. 

443. To prevent future French intrigues and domestic re- 
bellions, it was now resolved to unite Ireland more closely 
with England, as Scotland had been united nearly a century 
before (§ 4^2). Thirty-two Irish lords and one hundred 
commoners were added to the British Parlia- 
ment. George III. at the same time abandoned 

his empty title of "King of France," and dropped the lilies 
from his shield. 

444. It is impossible here to relate the marvelous career 
of Napoleon Bonaparte, who, from a penniless student at 
Brienne, raised himself to be not only the ablest general, but 
the almost absolute autocrat, of Europe. Great Britain was 
the only power that constantly resisted him. From Naples 
to the frontiers of Denmark, the Mediterranean and Atlantic 
coasts were all subject to his power in 1808. Antwerp and 
Flushing were his great naval depots; Rome was the second 
city of his empire, which rivaled the glories of Augustus and 
Charlemagne. 

445. Napoleon's first great victories were over Italy and 
Austria ; his second enterprise was the conquest of Egypt, as 
a means of attacking the British Empire in the East. But his 
fleet was destroyed by Admiral Nelson in the battle of the 
Nile; and his invasion of Syria was defeated by the gallant 
resistance of Sir Sidney Smith and a small English and 
Turkish force in Acre. Returning almost alone to France, 



238 HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. [A. D. 1802. 

Bonaparte dissolved the Directory as summarily as Cromwell 
had dismissed the Long Parliament (§ 353), and was ap- 
pointed First Consul, with two colleagues. The French 
army was dislodged from Egypt by a British force under 
Gen. Abercrombie; and the invaluable collection of mss. 
and antiquities, made with great zeal and labor by the 
French savans, were appropriated to the British Museum. 
The previous autumn, the small but important island of 
Malta was surrendered to the English fleet, which thus 
gained complete control of the Mediterranean Sea. 

446. A short peace followed the Treaty of Amiens between 
France and England ; still both parties distrusted each other, 
and continued their preparations. War was suddenly re- 
newed in 1802. Two hundred French or Dutch vessels 
were seized in British ports ; and, by way of retaliation, 
10,000 British travelers or commercial residents were de- 
tained in France. A French army seized Hanover; but the 
Dutch and French colonies in the West Indies fell into 
English hands. 

Grand preparations were made by Napoleon for an inva- 
sion of England. An army of 100,000 men was encamped 
at Boulogne, and an immense fleet of war and transport 
vessels was ready to convey them across the narrow sea. 
"Let us be masters of the Channel for six hours," said the 
First Consul, "and we are masters of the world." His 
deeply laid scheme was foiled, however, by the energy and 
skill of Mr. Pitt, who again became prime minister in 1804. 
He succeeded in leaguing Russia, Austria, and Sweden with 
Great Britain against Bonaparte ; and, for the two remaining 
years of his life, his strong hand was felt in every department 
of the service. 

447. In 1804, Napoleon became "Emperor of the French"; 
and, the next year, won some of his most surprising victories 
over the Austrians and Russians at Ulm and Austerlitz. Aus- 
tria had to make peace, with the surrender of her most ancient 



A. D. 1807.] WAR WITH NAPOLEON. 239 

possessions and her last foot-hold in Italy, while by losing her 
only port, Trieste, she became an inland and second-rate 
power. 

England was consoled for the defeat of her allies by a 
naval victory won by Nelson off Trafalgar, — the 
last act of the great Admiral's life. He had re- 
tired from the service by reason of ill health, when a crisis 
with Spain led him to volunteer his services, which were 
gladly accepted. His last signal to the fleet was, "England 
expects every man to do his duty." As soon as it was read 
at his mast-head, a deafening shout all along the line declared 
every man's acceptance of the appeal. Struck by a ball, the 
Admiral drew his cloak about him that he might not be 
recognized, and the battle went on three hours while he lay 
in his death-agony. Learning, at last, that a complete vic- 
tory had been gained, and exclaiming, "Thank God, I have 
done my duty ! " the hero's soul departed. 

448. England's greatest minister did not long survive him. 
Mr. Pitt died Jan., 1806; and a new ministry was formed 
by a union of all parties, Mr. Fox, Pitt's chief rival, being 
Foreign Secretary. He had been -a friend to the French 
Revolution, and an opponent of the war. His efforts at 
conciliation were, nevertheless, in vain. He, too, died in 
September, 1806. 

Napoleon, meanwhile, had defeated Russia and Prussia in 
his celebrated northern campaign : all Germany lay prostrate 
at his feet, and he established himself in triumph at Berlin. 
Thence he issued a decree which was meant to annihilate 
British commerce, and thus destroy that ' ' power of the 
purse " by which England had been able to maintain her 
ascendency in Europe. He forbade the entry of British 
goods into any continental port. The English ministry had 
provoked this act by declaring all the ports from Dantzic to 
Trieste closed to all vessels but their own ; and their retalia- 
tory orders in Council now renewed this "paper blockade." 



240 HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK.. [A. D. 1807. 

Napoleon retorted by his Milan t)ecree, subjecting to seizure 
all vessels that should submit to these orders. 

449. The Czar now made peace and friendship with Napo- 
eon; and by a secret article in the Treaty of Tilsit, placed 

his own fleet, with those of Sweden and Denmark, which he 
could well control, at the service of his ally. Without waiting 
for a declaration of war by Denmark, the British ministry 
ordered a bombardment of Copenhagen, which 
lasted three days and resulted in a surrender of 
the city with its enormous fleet and two or three thousand 
pieces of artillery. All these movables were carried off to 
England. The island of Heligoland was retained as a depot 
for British goods, which were secretly introduced into the 
Continent. After this, the Danes naturally enough declared 
a war against England, which cost them their West Indian 
possessions of Santa Croce, St. Thomas, and St. Johns. 

450. The seizure of Spain and Portugal by Napoleon drew 
England into the Peninsular War, of which the principal hero 
is Sir Arthur Wellesley, afterward made Marquis and Duke 
of Wellington. The fortunes of the Spanish Bourbons were 
now in the hands of the imbecile Charles IV., his worthless 
Queen, and thei^ favorite minister Godoy, a man more able, 
but also, if possible, more basely wicked than either. Napo- 
leon had persuaded Charles to sell his kingdom for a palace 
and a pension, and proceeded to bestow the splendid prize 
upon his own brother Joseph. 

The high-spirited Spaniards did not choose to be thus 
"bartered away like a flock of sheep"; they formed at 
Seville a "Supreme Junta of Spain and the Indies," pro- 
claimed Ferdinand VII., the eldest son of Charles, to be 
their king, and applied for aid to the British officers at Gib- 
raltar. The events of the war can not be detailed here. 
Wonderful genius was displayed on both sides; but the 
steady determination of the English general, though little 
helped and often hindered by his Spanish allies, was at 



A. D. 1811.] LAST YEARS OF GEORGE III. 241 

length triumphant; and Ferdinand VII., as dull a despot as 
most of his predecessors, was firmly established at Madrid. 

451. In 1810, the mind of George III., never strong or 
clear, gave way under the strain of public duties, and he fell 
into that sad condition — blind, deaf, and insane — in which 
he spent the last ten years of his long and eventful life. 
His eldest son, as Prince Regent, was placed at the head 
of the government. 

RECAPITULATION. 

Ministry of the younger Pitt. Impeachment of Warren Hastings 
for extortion in India. Wars of the French Revolution. French 
Republic declares itself the "friend of all peoples, but the enemy of 
all governments." By its conquests, Holland, Belgium, and the terri- 
tories surrounding Genoa, Venice, and Naples become republics. 
Similar attempts in Ireland defeated. Union of Ireland with Great 
Britain. Napoleon becomes First Consul, afterward Emperor, of the 
French, and dictator of Europe. Peace of Amiens abruptly ended by 
embargo on French vessels in Britain, and detention of British subjects 
in France. Victory and death of Nelson at Trafalgar. Death of Pitt 
and Fox. Napoleon's "Continental System" attempts to destroy 
British commerce. Bombardment and capture of Copenhagen. In 
Peninsular War, British forces under Wellington are ultimately victo- 
rious. Insanity of George III. ; regency of his son. 

In connection with this and the preceding chapter, read : Jesse's 
Life and Reign of Geo. III. ; Massey's History of England during the 
same reign ; Horace Walpole's Letters, and \\\% Journal of the Reign of 
Geo. ILL ; De Quincey's essays on Life and Manners; Lanfrey's Na- 
poleon ; Macaulay's essay on Warren Hastings ; Trevelyan's Early His- 
tory of Charles James Fox ; Napier's History of the Peninsular War. 



Eng. — 16. 



IV. THE REGENCY (A. D. 1811— 1820). 




¥ 

Napoleon at St. Helena. 



OT content with having all Europe 
for her enemies, England, by insist- 
ing upon her right to board their 
vessels of war in search of her run- 
away sailors, had stirred up the hos- 
tility of the United States. "Once 
a Briton, always a Briton," was her 
maxim; and the multitudes of emi- 
grants who had adopted America 
as their home were still claimed as 
subjects of King George. The war 
of 181 2 sprang immediately from 
the commercial warfare of decrees 
and embargoes with the French 
(§448). Napoleon, in 1811, made 
exceptions in his Berlin and Milan 
decrees in favor of the Americans; but the British Orders in 
Council were enforced upon American ships until after the 
declaration of war. 

453. The United States began without a navy; but so 
rapidly was this arm of the service developed, that during 
the first year of the war more than fifty armed vessels, and 
five times as many merchantmen, with 3,000 prisoners and 
an immense amount of plunder, were taken from the British. 
The ocean swarmed with American privateers; and from the 
vast forests of the interior, fleets were constructed which 
gained the victories of Lakes Erie and Champlain. Three 
invasions of Canada, however, were repulsed with heavy 
loss; and the American Gen. Hull, pursued in his retreat, 
even surrendered Detroit, and the surrounding country as 
far as Chicago, to the British Gen. Brock. 
(242) 



A. D. 1815.] BATTLE OF WATERLOO. 243 



454. A force of 4,000 English, landing in the Potomac, 
captured Washington and burned the public buildings with 
their libraries and archives. A subsequent attempt upon 
New Orleans failed through the energetic management of 
Gen. Andrew Jackson. This was the last action of the war. 
Already, though unknown to the combatants, for steamers 
and ocean telegraphs did not yet exist, articles of peace 
had been signed at Ghent; and the "Last War with Great 
Britain" — may it forever be the last! — was ended. 

455. The turning point in Napoleon's career was his in- 
vasion of Russia in 181 2. In that terrible march and still 
more dreadful retreat, his iron will was vanquished by more 
than human forces. Although he reached the heart of the 
great Empire, the flames which enwrapped his head-quarters 
at Moscow proved the undaunted spirit of the people. More 
than nine-tenths of his grand army were victims of frost or 
fire, food for cannon, or swallowed by the icy rivers. In 
the campaigns of the next three years, Napoleon's genius 
shone brighter than ever, but the spell of his ascendancy 
was broken. The tide of war rolled inward upon Paris; 
he was conquered, and compelled to accept the little island 
of Elba in exchange for a great empire. 

456. He returned in a few months almost alone to France, 
but on his march from the Mediterranean to Paris was joined 
by thousands of his old soldiers, and reigned for a Hundred 
Days with his usual energy. But Wellington, now the con- 
queror of Spain, met him at Waterloo; and on 

. , June 18, 1815. 

Belgian battle-fields the fates of Napoleon and 
of Europe were decided. British and Prussian steadiness 
carried the day against the magnificent rush and valor of 
the French. Napoleon was a fugitive. He threw himself 
upon the generosity of the English Prince Regent, which 
proved a broken reed; and the victor of a hundred battles 
was doomed to die, like a lion in a cage, upon the barren 
rock of St. Helena. 



244 HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. [A. D. 1814. 

457. Louis XVIII, brother of the guillotined king (§441), 
received the French crown. A congress of the Great Powers 
at Paris resettled the boundaries of Europe, and a "Holy 
Alliance" bound the sovereigns of Russia, Austria, and 
Prussia to aid each other in putting down all liberal move- 
ments in their respective countries. Although professing to 
promote religion and paternal government, the Alliance was. 
but a scheme of absolutism, and the Prince Regent, by the 
advice of his best councilors, refused to join it. 

458. By the twenty years' war, thus victoriously ended, 
Great Britain had incurred a debt of four thousand millions 
of dollars. The burden of the yearly interest bore heavily 
upon every rank in society, but chiefly upon the industrious 
working classes, and the merchants whose business was sud- 
denly curtailed by the close of the war. The enormous in- 
crease of manufactures had more than supplied the demand ; 
many thousands of laborers were thrown out of employment. 
The application of steam to manufactures, though ultimately, 
no doubt, a benefit to the workingmen, had crushed a multi- 
tude of small industries, and made paupers of a most worthy 
class of people. 

The Corn Laws, moreover, prohibiting the importation 
of foreign grains, raised the price of food, and dangerous 
riots occurred near Manchester and other large towns. 
Lord Castlereagh's ministry both despised and feared the 
common people, and their stern and cruel measures of re- 
pression embittered the discontents. Assemblies of the peo- 
ple, unless especially authorized by the government, were 
declared to be high treason, and private citizens were for- 
bidden to possess fire-arms or to be drilled in their use. 

459. The Prince Regent had forfeited the respect of the 
nation by his dissolute life, and by his cruelty to his consort, 
the unhappy Caroline of Brunswick, whom he at length 
banished from his home. Their only child, the Princess 
Charlotte, was the idol of the nation; but she died soon 



A. D. 1820.] DEATH OF GEORGE III. 245 

after her marriage with Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, and 
the inheritance of the British crown passed to the younger 
sons of George III. The poor old king died Jan. 29, 1820, 
still under the cloud which for ten years had darkened his 
mind (§451). His obstinate temper, his narrowness and 
bigotry, had all been forgotten in pity for his great calamity; 
while his love for pure and simple pleasures, his faithfulness 
to wife and children, were admired by a home-loving people, 
all the more for their contrast with the heartless and selfish 
prodigality of his son, who spent $600,000 a year of his 
starving people's money on his own pleasures, and then 
demanded three and a quarter millions more to pay his 
debts. 

RECAPITULATION. 

War between England and the United States grows out of "Right 
of Search." Successes of Americans on the sea. Their failures in Can- 
ada and surrender of Detroit. City of Washington burnt. Defeat of 
British at New Orleans. Peace is signed at Ghent. Napoleon's dis- 
aster and exile at Elba. His return and final defeat at Waterloo ; 
is held prisoner by British at St. Helena. England declines to join 
the Holy Alliance. Her people are burdened with debt. Severity of 
Lord Castlereagh's government. Death of vhe Princess Charlotte, 
and of her grandfather the king. 

Read : Grenville's Memoirs of the Court of England during the 
Regency; Peter Bayne's Essays, Vol. ii; Lord Brougham's Sketches of 
Statesmen of the Time of Geo. III. ; Thackeray's Vanity Fair. 



V. GEORGE IV.— WILLIAM IV. 




English Sailors. 



HE early years of George IV. 's reign 
(A. D. 1820 — 1830) were signalized 
by the accession of two very able 
ministers, Robert Peel and George 
Canning, to the sovereign's councils. 
^ ms Canning's liberal policy was shown 
f in the relief of Roman Catholics 
from many of the disadvantages un- 
der which the laws had placed them. 
All danger of papal interference in 
England had long passed away; and 
generous people felt it a disgrace that any of their fellow-sub- 
jects should suffer for religious beliefs. The Emancipation 
was not accomplished, however, until after Mr. Canning's 
death in 1827. The oath of the King's supremacy over the 
Church was replaced by an oath which Romanists were able 
to take; and all orifices, excepting the sovereignty or regency 
of the United Kingdom, and the Chancellorship, were thrown 
open on equal terms. Daniel O'Connell, the Irish "Agi- 
tator," now took his seat in the House of Commons. 

461. The principal foreign operations of Great Britain 
during this reign were the protection of Portugal, a close 
commercial ally, from the aggressions of Spain; the acknowl- 
edgment of the independence of all the Spanish colonies in 
North and South America, and aid rendered to the Greeks 
in their war against Turkey. The combined squadrons of 
Russia, France, and England defeated the Turco-Egyptian 
fleet in the Bay of Navarino; and after four centuries of 
servitude, Greece became an independent kingdom, under 
the protection of the Great Powers. 
(246) 



A. D. 1832.] PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. 247 

462. George IV. died in 1830, and was succeeded by his 
brother, the Duke of Clarence. William IV. was sixty-five 
years of aee at his accession. He rejoiced in 

J ■ ° . . _ . . \ .. AD. 183^-1837. 

the character and manners of a British sailor; 
walked about the streets unattended, with an umbrella under 
his arm, and talked in the uncourtly language of the fore- 
castle. But he was a better man than his brother; and 
Queen Adelaide's influence restored order and purity to 
the palace. 

463. The year of William's accession was marked by sev- 
eral peaceful revolutions in Europe. Charles X. of France, 
having violated the freedom of the press and the rights of 
his people, had to abandon his throne and become the guest 
of the British sovereign at Holyrood Palace. His kinsman, 
Louis Philippe, the Duke of Orleans, became "King of the 
French." Belgium separated itself from Holland, and chose 
Prince Leopold, of Saxe-Coburg, to be its king (§ 459). A 
still more peaceful and constitutional change was going on 
in England under the name of Parliamentary reform (§ 424). 
A new and able ministry, with Earl Grey at its head, and 
Lords Brougham, Derby, Palmerston, and John Russell 
among its members, entered upon office fully pledged to this 
most just and necessary measure. 

464. There was a strong Tory opposition, and stormy de- 
bates went on for a year and a half. The excitement was 
greatest in the manufacturing towns, — centers of wealth and 
tax-paying industry, but of only recent importance, and 
therefore unjustly excluded from any share in the gov- 
ernment. Two hundred thousand artisans were ready to 
march from Birmingham to London and make their power 
felt by the Parliament. The King at last signed the Bill. 
Fifty-six "pocket boroughs" were abolished; and 143 seats, 
thus vacated, were redistributed among the large towns. The 
right to vote was also extended to all persons owning prop- 
erty or paying rent to a certain limited amount. 



248 HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. [A. D. 1833. 

465. The first reformed House of Commons had an over- 
whelming liberal majority; and timid people began to fear 
that the rising tide of reform would sweep away the aristoc- 
racy, the Church, and all that they held sacred. But Sir 
Robert Peel, at the head of the Tory — now more properly 
called the Conservative — party, did much to convert the 
higher classes from blind and bigoted opponents of all prog- 
ress, into steadfast adherents of justice under old forms and 
new. Among the noblest acts of the new Parliament was 
the abolition of slavery in all the British possessions. Clark- 
son and Wilberforce, whose humane efforts in 1807 had put 
an end to the African slave-trade, lived just long enough to 
know the complete triumph of their cause. Though Great 
Britain was still heavily burdened with taxes, the Commons 
voted ^20,000,000 to compensate West Indian owners for 
the liberation of nearly 800,000 slaves; and though their 
sugar-trade has been greatly reduced by the change, the 
nation at large has never grudged the sacrifice. The first 
day of August, 1834, was the birth-day of freedom in all the 
colonies. 

466. A great improvement in the Poor Laws afforded 
some relief to the frightful evils of pauperism, while it gave 
freedom to honest labor. The Law of Settlement ha^ hith- 
erto kept the working classes in a state of serfdom fixed to 
the soil. Parishes resisted the arrival of an honest workman, 
as if he had been an armed invader, for fear he might be 
overtaken by sickness, poverty, or old age, and so come 
upon them for support. This law was modified so as to 
allow a poor man to seek employment beyond the limits of 
his native parish. 

467. William IV died in 1837, and the crown of the three 
kingdoms passed to the Princess Victoria, daughter of the 
Duke of Kent (see Table, p. 215), who had just completed 
her eighteenth year. The connection between Hanover 
and Great Britain was now broken, the German kingdom 



A. D. 1837.] ERNEST, KING OF HANOVER. 249 

passing to Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, the eldest 
surviving son of George III. 



RECAPITULATION. 

Ministry of Peel and Canning. Repeal of laws unfavorable to 
Romanists. England recognizes independence of Spanish-American 
colonies, and aids to establish that of Greece. Accession of William 
IV. Revolutions in France and Belgium. Parliamentary reform in 
England; Tory reaction. Emancipation of slaves in British colonies. 
New Poor Law. Death of William ; accession of Victoria in Great 
Britain, of Ernest in Hanover. 

Read: Spencer Walpole's History of England from the Conclusion 
of War in 181 5 ; Molesworth's ditto, From 1830; Harriet Martineau's 
ditto, During the Peace ; Nicholl's History of the Poor Laws ; Wallace's 
Life and Reign of Geo. LV., and Croly's Life and Times of Geo. LV. ; 
Wright's Life and Reign of William LV. ; Hutton's Studies in Parlia- 
ment ; H. L. Bulwer's Life of Lord Palmerston ; Lecky's Leaders of 
Public Opinion; O'Keefe's Life and Times of 0' Connell : Colquhoun's 
William Wilberforce : his Friends and Times ; Lives of Wellington 
and Peel ; Earle's English Premiers, Vol. ii ; W. R. Greg's Essays, 
Vol. ii ; Bagehot's Estimates of Some Englishmen and Scotchmen, Chap. 



VI. REIGN OF VICTORIA. 




^r 



Crimean Allies. 



HE young Queen's reign (A. 
D. 1837 — ) opened in a 
troublous time. Canada was 
in revolt, Jamaica on the eve 
of it; and the people at home 
were discontented by reason of 
scanty harvests, and the desire 
of further reforms. A large 
party of thinking men among 
the laboring classes insisted 
upon a thorough revolution 
in the government: to admit 
(1) Universal Suffrage; (2) 
Vote by Ballot; (3) Annual 
Parliaments; (4) Equal Elec- 
toral Districts; (5) Payment 
of members of Parliament and abolition of Property Qualifi- 
cations. Meetings of these "Chartists," numbering in one 
instance as many as 200,000 persons, occurred in the neigh- 
borhood of the large cities. A "monster-petition," bearing 
a million of names, was rolled into Parliament in a huge tub. 
These disorderly movements only defeated themselves; but 
wiser men were already seeking remedies for the real evils 
which had occasioned the agitation. 

469. The "Anti-corn Law League," of which Mr. Cob- 
den was the leader, sought a repeal of all the duties on 
breadstuffs, and in general to promote free-trade. The hard 
teaching of events came to the aid of the Corn Law agi- 
tators. The wet, cold summer of 1845 occasioned scanty 
harvests all over Europe, and in Ireland the potato was 
blighted. Even the Conservatives could not fail to see the 
( 2 5°) 



A. D. 1848.] REVOLUTIONS OF 1S4S. 25 1 



need of a change. In 1846 all duties on articles of food 
were abolished. During this and the following year thou- 
sands of wretched people died of famine in Ireland. O'Con- 
nell was dead, but Smith O'Brien, who, without a tithe of 
his talents, attempted to enact his part, excited some show 
of rebellion. He was arrested by a few policemen, and 
transported; his deluded followers were permitted to seek a 
safe asylum in America, and the excitement passed away. 

470. The London Chartists mustered to the number of 
20,000 on Kennington Common, to march upon Westminster 
and demand the five points (§ 468) of the Charter. But 
1^0,000 respectable citizens enrolled themselves 

. , ,. , , 111, ,1 April. 1848. 

as a special-police, and the rabble, betrayed by 
their leader, who had embezzled their subscriptions, melted 
away. Among the amateur policemen who helped to main- 
tain order at this crisis, was Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, 
then an exile, though destined before the end of the year 
to enforce a different sort of order in France. 

471. The Citizen King, Louis Philippe, had by this time 
worn out the patience of his people and of Europe. He in 
turn (§ 463) took refuge in England, and the exiled Bona- 
parte became President of the Second French Republic. 
The commotions above mentioned were England's whole 
share in the Revolutions of 1848. Scarcely a nation on the 
Continent remained unaltered; and though the republics 
then formed were short-lived, their principles entered into 
the restored monarchies, and produced a slow but sure 
growth of constitutional freedom. 

472. In 1 84 1, Queen Victoria had married her cousin 
Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, a noble Prince, whose wise, 
unselfish character contributed greatly to the success and 
happiness of her reign. Avoiding public honors and power 
for himself, his study was to strengthen her hands by 
the wisest counsel; while his influence as a private gentle- 
man was liberallv used to forward scientific and industrial 



252 HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. [A. D. 1851. 

enterprises, promotive of the happiness and enlightenment 
of the people. Among these was a display of the industries 
of all the world in the Crystal Palace, erected for the pur- 
pose in Hyde Park, — the first of a series of in- 
ternational expositions at London, New York, 
Paris, and Vienna. It was regarded as a pledge of a new 
reign of peace and good-will among the nations. 

473. Less than three years had elapsed when sounds of 
peace were drowned in the roar of cannon. Louis Napoleon, 
by a sudden and secret stroke in the night of December 
1-2, 1851, had made himself arbitrary ruler of France. To 
feed the passion of his people for military glory, he seized 
upon the "Eastern Question" — an ever-open avenue to war 
when the western Powers felt inclined to it. The Russian 
Czar Nicholas had invited Great Britain to share with him 
the spoils of the "sick man of Europe," as the declining 
Turkish power began to be called. The dishonest proposal 
had been promptly rejected. The Czar, nevertheless, urged 
upon the Sultan a haughty demand of new privileges for the 
Greek Christians in Constantinople, and seized upon Mol- 
davia and Wallachia, two rich Turkish provinces, as guaran- 
tee for the execution of his wishes. 

474. The French government, under all its varying forms, 
had held itself for 300 years, if not longer, the champion 
and protector of Latin Christians in the East. It now 
chose to consider the Czar's demands as a declaration 
of hostility against France, and sought the alliance of Eng- 
land in resisting them. The diplomacy of Europe held all 
the Five Great Powers — England, France, Russia, Austria, 
and Prussia — responsible, severally or together, for the main- 
tenance of peace, justice, and the balance of power. Great 
Britain, as w r e have seen, never stinted her expenditure of 
blood or treasure in fulfilling her share in this mutual obliga- 
tion ; but under the persuasions of the new French Emperor, 
she now did even more than strict duty demanded. 



A. D. 1854.] WAR IN THE CRIMEA. 253 

475. Without waiting for the cooperation of Austria and 
Prussia, Lord Aberdeen's ministry entered into close alliance 
with France and with Turkey to repel the Russian aggres- 
sions; and the English embassador at Constantinople was 
authorized to call up the fleet from Malta at any hostile 
movement on the part of the Czar. The Turks surprised all 
Europe by their display of spirit and military genius. Their 
general, Omar Pasha, promptly crossing the Danube, gained 
a brilliant victory over the Russians at Oltenitza; 

and their fortress of Silistria was defended with 

such spirit and efficiency that Prince Paskievitch had to raise 

the siege in less than a month. 

476. Another victory of the Turks at Giurgevo, forced the 
Czar to abandon the Lower Danube, and even to give up 
the provinces (§ 473) which were the original cause of war. 
The allied powers believed, however, that he would be 
ready at any time to break the peace of Europe by new 
efforts to grasp Constantinople, unless they destroyed his 
power for mischief. Or perhaps the French and the English 
commanders desired to make some use of their splendid 
armaments, rather than allow the Turks to reap all the 
laurels of the war. 

477. In any case, it was resolved to invade the Tartar 
province of Crimea and destroy the immense stores of war- 
material that were guarded by.the forts of Sevastopol. Not 
in two hundred years had French and English soldiers stood 
side by side on the same battle-fields, and they marched and 
fought with a noble emulation. The heights of the Alma 
were stormed and taken Sept. 20, 1854, and the two armies, 
supported by their fleets which followed near the shore, oc- 
cupied the port of Balaklava and besieged Sevastopol. Its 
strong defenses resisted all their assaults for nearly a year. 

478. The battle of Balaklava, Oct. 25, is chiefly remark- 
able for the "Charge of the Light Brigade." In obedience 
to a mistaken command a charge was made down a long, 



254 HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. [A. D. 1854. 

narrow valley, swept from either side and from the end by 
the enemy's guns. More than six hundred men attempted 
the hopeless task; half their number survived the iron storm 
and gained possession of the battery at the end of the gorge, 
spiked the guns and sabered the gunners, then rode back 
by the same perilous way they had come. The Russians 
claimed the victory of the day, but the heroic spirit of the 
"Six Hundred" was not without its rewards. 

479. Ten days later, at Inkermann, a victory was gained 
over immensely superior numbers of Russians. Meanwhile, 
Lord Raglan, the British commander, was feebly supported 
by the ministry at home ; and the scanty supplies they sent 
were often rendered useless by the want of transportation 
between the Crimean coast and the camp. Thousands sick- 
ened and died for want of food, medicines, and blankets, 
which were only a few miles away. The storms of that 
terrible winter made sad havoc in the British ranks. Their 
sufferings were somewhat alleviated by the skillful and de- 
voted attentions of Florence Nightingale, an English lady, 
who, with her band of trained nurses, had left all the com- 
forts of home for this toilsome pilgrimage of mercy. 

480. The Czar Nicholas died in March, 1855, and the 
brave Lord Raglan in the following June. Lord Palmerston, 
a disciple of Pitt and Canning, had now succeeded Lord 
Aberdeen in the British ministry, and the war went on with 
renewed energy. A fleet cruising in the Sea of Azov, cap- 
tured several towns and destroyed immense stores of grain 
which were to have fed the garrison of Sevastopol. Another 
British fleet penetrated the Baltic and Polar seas, burning 
timber and other ship-materials, and shutting up the Russians 
in their harbor of Cronstadt, but fighting no battles. 

481. The most decisive action of the war took place Sept. 
8, 1855, when the French stormed the Malakoff, and the 
English the Redan, two great forts which guarded the south 
side of Sevastopol. The Russian garrison retired to the north 



A. D. 1856.] PEACE OF PARIS. 255 



forts; and soon afterward, through the mediation of Austria, 
proposals of peace were entertained. A treaty was signed at 
Paris, in which all the great powers, and some 

n i 1 >-r>i t \ i ii March, 1856. 

smaller ones, had part. lhe Danube and the 
Black Sea were thrown open to the commerce of all nations, 
but no war-vessels, either Turkish or Russian, were permitted 
to enter the latter. Christians in Turkey were declared to 
be under the joint protection of all the Christian powers of 
Europe who were signers of the treaty. 



RECAPITULATION. 

Chartists' seditions at beginning of Victoria's reign. Irish famine 
gives force to Corn Law agitations ; and all duties on grains are abol- 
ished. Revolutions of 1848 leave England unharmed. Marriage of 
the Queen with the Saxon Prince, Albert. Industrial Exhibition at 
London. Second French Empire. Alliance of France, England, and 
Turkey in war against Russia. Victories of the Turks. Invasion of 
the Crimea. Charge of the Six Hundred at Balaklava. Victories of 
the Alma and Inkermann. Sufferings of British soldiers; self-deny- 
ing services of Florence Nightingale. Fall of Sevastopol. Peace of 
Paris. 

Read : Kinglake's Invasion of the Crimea ; Justin McCarthy's His- 
tory of our own Times; Martin's Life of the Prince Consort; Baron 
Stockmar's Memoirs ; T. W. Higginson's English Statesmen. 



VII. BRITISH EMPIRE IN THE EAST. 







HEN the treaty of Paris 
was signed, it was hoped 
that many years of peace 
had been secured. But a still more 
terrible war soon demanded the 
attention of the British people. 
Their empire in India had grown 
in wealth and territory until, by 
the annexation of Scinde and the conquest of the Sikhs 
of the Punjab, it reached from the Indus to the Hoogly, 
and from the Himalayas to Pt. de Galle. This immense 
territory was held in subjection by nearly a quarter of a 
million of native soldiers, called Sepoys; for the climate is 
so noxious to Europeans that an English army could not 
long be maintained. The Sepoys usually regarded their 
officers with a child-like confidence and affection; but they 
were of a timid and superstitious race, and any fancied 
affront to their religion would excite a rage of rebellion. 
When, in 1856, their new Enfield rifles came out from 
England, it was whispered that the cartridges contained 
beef-tallow. This was abomination in the eyes of the 
Hindus ; and though the government, as soon as it heard 
(256) 



A. D. 1858.] THE SEPOY REBELLION. 257 

of their scruples, suppressed the cartridges, their suspicions 
were not allayed. Mutinies broke out in Bengal, Oude, and 
the province of Delhi, and the soldiers were joined in their 
revolt by the middle and lower classes of the people. 

483. Delhi, the splendid capital of the Mogul emperors, 
with immense stores of arms, was taken by the insurgents, 
and all the European residents, men, women, and children, 
were slaughtered with fiendish cruelty. Frightful massacres 
took place at Meerut and at Cawnpore. A Scotch regiment 
was besieged five months in Lucknow, by a large native 
army. The English residents were outnumbered, twenty to 
one, by the mutinous Sepoys. At this moment of horror, a 
war-vessel arrived from home, bearing Sir Colin Campbell 
with fresh reinforcements of troops. In a few weeks Luck- 
now was relieved, Delhi captured, and its King, the last of 
the Moguls, tried and sentenced as a mutineer. Gen. Have- 
lock, who with a few hundreds of British soldiers had held 
out against eight or ten times his number of infuriated rebels, 
and had saved Lucknow until relief could come, died a few 
days after Campbell's arrival. The Queen recognized his 
devoted services by making him a baronet, but the patent 
was signed the day after his death. 

484. The rebellion was soon at an end. The government 
of Hindustan was now taken from the East India Company 
and vested in the Queen and her Council. A Gov- 
ernor-General, appointed by the sovereign, repre- 
sents her in Calcutta. A Secretary of State for India, and a 
Council of fifteen members in London, superseded the old 
Board of Control. Railways, telegraphs, newspapers, and 
common schools have already made wonderful changes in 
the old heathen land. Hindu lawyers study in the Temple 
at London, while the secluded apartments of high-caste 
Indian women are open to English governesses; and, though 
the government carefully abstains from shocking the religious 
notions of the people, the old superstitions are fast fading away. 

Eng.— 17. 



«5» 



HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. 



Map 5. 




On the first day of 1877, a grand ceremony was held at 
Delhi, by which the Queen assumed the title of Empress of 
India. Nine years later the kingdom of Burmah was annexed 
to the British Empire, its infamous king, Theebaw, who had 
murdered his brothers, becoming a prisoner. 

485. Early in the Queen's reign a war was waged against 
China, which has always been considered a disgrace to the 
English name. Opium had long been carried from the Hindu 
provinces into China. In 1834 this trade was greatly in- 



A. D. 1842.] WAR WITH CHINA. 259 

creased, being thrown open to all upon the expiration of the 
East India Company's charter. The Chinese government, 
alarmed by the effects in the habits of its people, forbade the 
entrance of the drug. Its orders were evaded, and an im- 
mense smuggling trade went on. Some British merchants 
were then shut up in their warehouses in Canton, until they 
should surrender all their opium. This they did, to the 
value of $10,000,000; and it was destroyed with sea-water 
and lime. England took vengeance by seizing Canton, and 
bombarding some other cities. A war of two 
years followed, ending with the cession of Hong 
Kong to the British, and the opening of five great Chinese 
ports to foreign trade. 

486. But the Chinese Emperor, secluded in his palace, 
still regarded himself as lord of the world, and treated the 
representatives of other Powers with rude contempt. His serv- 
ants knew better, but dared not enlighten him. At length 
a Chinese force boarded a vessel belonging at Hong Kong, 
and seized its crew. The men were set free at the demand 
of the British minister, but apology was refused. The Brit- 
ish fleet took the forts near Canton. The Viceroy re- 
taliated by offering a bounty for the heads of Englishmen, 
and attempting to poison citizens of Hong 
Kong. A joint expedition of English and French 
vessels bombarded Canton, and made the Viceroy pris- 
oner. The Chinese Government still refusing to treat on 
equal terms, the fleet moved northward, took the forts at the 
mouth of the Pei-ho, and occupied Tientsin. A treaty was 
now made, throwing open more ports to foreign trade; but 
embassadors were still required to prostrate themselves on 
the ground if they came into the presence of the Emperor. 
To secure better terms of intercourse, the allied forces ad- 
vanced to the capital. Twenty-six British messengers, under 
a flag of truce, were seized and brutally ill-treated; thirteen 
of them were killed. To punish this outrage in a way that 



260 HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. [A. D. 1878. 

the Emperor, and not the people, would feel, his summer- 
palace, near Peking, was destroyed. Peace was soon after- 
wards signed at Peking, and equal terms of intercourse were 
established. Hong Kong is a British colony, and a military 
and naval station of the first rank. 

487. While Russia has been pushing forward her outposts 
in Turkestan, England has been careful to keep an influ- 
ence over the Afghan chiefs, so as to have a friendly power 
between India and the Russian possessions. The half- 
civilized Afghans know their importance, and favor one rival 
or the other, as it suits them. In 1878, the Ameer, Shere 
Ali, held a grand review in honor of some Russian officers 
who were visiting him, but delayed and hesitated to receive 
an English embassy. A British army marched from India, 
seized the frontier fortresses, defeated the Afghans with great 
loss, and took Candahar. Shere Ali fled to the Russians, 
and soon afterwards died. His successor accepted a yearly 
subsidy of $300,000 from the English, and promised to act 
always under their advice. The Afghans, however, mutinied, 
destroyed the British residency near Cabul, and killed all the 
officers. A fresh advance ot British troops occupied Cabul ; 
the Ameer abdicated, and Abdurrahman, the ablest of all 
the claimants to the chief power, received the sacred turban 
with pledges of British support. 

The northern boundary of Afghanistan was fixed, a few 
years later, by a Commission of Russian and English officers, 
who together surveyed the wild, rough mountain region, and 
set up stone pillars along a line of 355 miles long. The work 
ended in a treaty at St. Petersburg, August, 1887, which 
settled, for a time, the differences between the two great 
Powers as to their interests in Asia. 

488. Within a hundred years the British Empire has been 
increased by the addition of the great continent of Australia. 
Captain Cook visited its southern coast in 1772; and good 
men who were occupied with the problems of crime and 



A. D. 1840.] AUSTRALIA. 261 

poverty at home, conceived the idea of opening new abodes 
in this fertile wilderness for the many who were failing in 
the struggle for life in the overcrowded cities of England. 
In 1788, eleven ships, laden with convicts and paupers, 
arrived in Sydney Gove; and with such unpromising mate- 
rials the colony of New South Wales was founded. In the 
course of years, thousands of criminals proved the benefit 
of honest work, and became inspired by the wish and hope 
of a better life. 

489. Australian wool became celebrated in European mar- 
kets. The transportation of convicts ceased ; but an immense 
throng of free settlers followed, and schools, churches, and 
all the comforts of civilized life were multiplied. A new era 
began with the discovery of gold in the south-eastern prov- 
inces. For a time there was danger of famine ; farms, cities, 
and ships were abandoned, while all the people flocked to 
the mines. Necessity, however, brought them to their 
senses; and the prosperity of the country was increased by 
a large immigration from all parts of the world. There are 
now five distinct colonies in Australia : Victoria in the south, 
and Queensland on the north of the original colony of New 
South Wales; and South and West Australia. Tasmania, a 
great island to the southward, has a similar history to that of 
Australia. Sydney, the capital of the first colony, is the seat 
of a bishopric and a university. Melbourne, the capital 
of Victoria, founded in 1837, has grown still more rapidly, 
and has now about 300,000 inhabitants. A submarine tele- 
graph unites it in instant communication with London. 

490. The rich and beautiful islands of New Zealand were 
visited and partly Christianized by English and other mis- 
sionaries, before 1840, at which time their chiefs acknowl- 
edged Queen Victoria as their sovereign. The native Maoris 
were a noble race ; many of them are well educated, newspa- 
pers are published in their language, and they send delegates to 
both branches of the colonial legislature. Their intelligence 



262 HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. [A. D. 1874. 

and skillful use of fire-arms make them dangerous enemies, as 
the British settlers have proved in recent wars. But rum and 
idleness are degrading them year by year, and they may not 
long be either admired or feared. 

491. Within a few years the Fiji Islands have also sought 
protection and submitted to the control of the British 

Government. The great war-club, which for 

A. D. 1874. j i • i_- r r 

centuries served their chiefs lor a scepter, was 
sent to England, and is in the Queen's possession. Eng- 
lish capitalists have rich sugar plantations on the fertile 
mountain-sides. Cannibalism has disappeared, and the peo- 
ple are learning civilized arts. The islands constitute a 
Crown Colony, with a Governor appointed by the Queen. 
Of the sixteen provinces, fourteen are governed, as to local 
affairs, by native chiefs. 

492. The colonists in the South Seas are warmly attached 
to the mother-country; and England, learning wisdom by 
her mistakes in the last century (§§ 426-438), treats them 
better than she treated her American colonies. In 1884, a 
Conference of English and Colonial statesmen met at Lon- 
don to devise plans for a union of the colonies, for common 
defense, and for other objects especially concerning thenu 
selves. Both parties, Conservatives and Liberals, approved 
the Federal Council Act, which was passed by Par- 
liament the next winter. It provides for the meeting, at 
least once in two years, of a Council in which all the Aus- 
tralasian Colonies may, if they choose, be represented. 
The Governor of the colony in which the Council sits, signs 
or vetoes each act, in the Queen's name. The first meeting 
of the "Federal Council of Australasia," took place in Jan- 
uary, 1886, at Hobart, in Tasmania. 

493. A movement toward "Imperial Federation" is 
favored by many leading men, both in the colonies and at 
home. They desire a closer union of the whole British 
Empire by representation of all its parts in the Imperial 



A. D. 1885.] AUSTRALIA. 263 

Parliament, and equal promotion in honors and influence for 
colonial statesmen with those of the mother country. 

494. A disgrace to the Australasian colonies has been the 
kidnapping of natives of neighboring islands, and forcing 
them to work for terms of three years or more, on the sugar 
plantations. The Government of Queensland appointed 
Commissioners, in 1885, to examine and put an end to this 
infamous traffic. They found that one man had decoyed 
more than six hundred islanders from various places, on 
board an English vessel, where they were crowded into close 
cabins, without sufficient food or water, and that some had 
died of their ill-treatment. A steamer was fitted out, which, 
cruising among the islands, and calling at nearly fifty different 
places, returned all the survivors who desired it, to their 
homes. The chief "labor" recruiter was hanged at Brisbane. 
The planters who had honestly contracted for the laborers, 
were paid for their losses; and the natives were assured that 
the Government desired to treat them justly. 

RECAPITULATION. 

British Empire in India is maintained by native troops under 
British officers. Sepoy Rebellion. Massacre of English residents at 
Delhi, Meerut, and Cawnpore. Success of Generals Havelock, Camp- 
bell, and others. Diffusion of English ideas in India by schoools, 
railways, etc. Victoria, Empress of India. Burmah annexed. Wars 
with China result in cession of Hong Kong, opening of ports to com- 
merce, and intercourse on equal terms. English interference in 
Afghanistan. Boundaries settled by treaty with Russia. Australia, 
first colonized by criminals and paupers, increases wonderfully in 
wealth and civilization. New Zealand and the Fiji Islands added to 
British Empire in the East. Federal Council for Australasian Colonies; 
plans for Imperial Federation. "Labor-recruiting" in the South Sea 
Islands checked by Government of Queensland. 



VIII. VICTORIA'S REIGN CONTINUED. 




|NGLAND at one time seemed 
likely to be involved in the Civil 
War, which threatened to destroy 
the American Union (A. D. 1861- 
1865). The cutting-off of the 
cotton supply occasioned great 
distress among the Lancashire 
weavers. The envoys of the 
Confederate States to France and 
England were seized by a United 
States naval officer on board the 
British mail-steamer Trent, and 
were conducted, as prisoners, to 
the harbor of New York. But 
the "right of search " (§ 452) was 
no longer in vogue. A peremp- 
tory demand for the rendition of 
the passengers was prepared by 
the British ministry to be tele- 
graphed to the Government at Washington. The Prince 
Consort was then on his death-bed, and the note of the 
ministers was carried to him by the Queen. His just and 
clear mind perceived the greater wisdom of moderation, 
and, taking the pen, he wrote his last words in an amend- 
ment designed to promote peace and friendship between 
the two nations. It was a worthy close to the life of the 
"blameless Prince," and his mediation was successful. 
The United States Government promptly disavowed the act 
of its officer, and surrendered the prisoners. 
(264) 



A. D. 1876.] THE EASTERN QUESTION. 265 

496. A new danger arose from the fitting-out of ships in 
British ports to prey upon the commerce of the United 
States. This was the act of private persons, but the Govern- 
ment was accused of negligence in suffering the pirate ves- 
sels to escape from the ports. After the war was ended in 
America, a peaceable arbitration was agreed upon by the 
Treaty of Washington, and a board, composed of able jurists 
from five friendly nations, met at Geneva, in the summer 
of 1872, to decide upon the compensation due to the 
United States. Their award of fifteen millions of dollars 
was promptly paid by Great Britain, and the danger passed 
away. 

497. The Conservative party was led, from 1868 to 1881, 
by Benjamin Disraeli, who, in 1876, was made Earl of Bea- 
consfield. When in power he pursued what he called an 
"Imperial Policy"; which meant stern action in Ireland, 
bold interference in the East and in South Africa, and, par- 
ticularly, active support of the Turkish Empire, because it 
held the passes from Europe to Asia. In 1875, as First 
Lord of the Treasury, he bought from the Khedive (or 
King) of Egypt all his shares in the Suez Canal, thus gaining 
for England the control of the water-way to India. Egypt 
was hopelessly in debt, mainly to capitalists in England 
and France. Commissioners from these two nations were, 
therefore, put in charge of its revenues; they received the 
taxes, paid its creditors, and controlled the railways. 

498. In 1876, the Balkan Peninsula was full of revolt 
against the insufferable oppressions of the Turks. Russia, 
Austria, and Germany, in a joint note to the Sultan, de- 
manded a reform in his government, making his Christian 
subjects as secure in life and property as the Mohammedans. 
England, under Disraeli, refused to join in the demand ; and 
within a month massacres and horrid brutalities in Bulgaria 
showed that her power was upholding a system of the vilest 
misgovernment. She took part in a Conference of the six 



266 HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. [A. D. 1882. 

great Powers, at Constantinople, in December, 1876; but 
the Sultan refused to make the reforms demanded, and war 
followed between Turkey and Russia. Alarmed by the near 
advance of the Russians to Constantinople, the English Gov- 
ernment ordered its fleet to the Dardanelles, and a detach- 
ment of India troops to Malta, while it called out the army 
reserves at home. Suddenly the two contending nations 
made a treaty of peace, at San Stefano, and "the Turks 
seemed to have thrown themselves into the arms of the 
Russians." 

499. This did not suit the Imperial Policy. England de- 
manded that the Treaty of San Stefano should be submitted 
to a Congress of all the Powers which signed the Treaty of 
Paris, in 1856. (§481.) This Congress met at Berlin, in June, 
1878. Lords Beaconsfield and Salisbury represented Great 
Britain. The Sultan agreed to make needed reforms, and to 
guarantee religious liberty throughout his dominions. Bul- 
garia was secured in a Christian government of her own 
choosing, and other countries, lately subject to the Turks, 
were put on a better footing. England received the island 
of Cyprus, and a protectorate over Asiatic Turkey. Beacons- 
field was now at the height of his glory, and exclaimed to 
the crowds w r ho met him on his return to London : "I have 
brought you peace with honor." 

500. The Imperial Policy did not, however, suit a major- 
ity of the British nation, especially when needless interference 
in Zulu wars had brought defeat in South Africa. This was 
shown in 1880, when elections for a new Parliament resulted 
in favor of the Liberals. Beaconsfield resigned his office, 
and died the next year. Mr. W. E. Gladstone, the leader 
of the Liberal party, was called by the Queen to form a 
Cabinet. 

New troubles soon arose in the East. The people of Egypt 
were resentful of the Anglo-French control, and this feeling 
was encouraged by Arabi Pasha, late chief-of-staff to the 



A. D. 1885.] WAR IN THE SOUDAN. 267 

Khedive, but who, in February, 1881, revolted openly against 
him. In June, 1882, a mob took possession of Alexandria, 
and murdered hundreds of its people. An English fleet, a 
month later, bombarded the city, but had no land force to 
protect the inhabitants, who were plundered and murdered, 
while the European quarter was burned. 

501. Meanwhile a pretended prophet, called "the Mahdi," 
had gathered a large force and conquered all Egyptian 
Soudan, and was coming down the Nile to the aid of the 
rebels. He was defeated by Sir Garnet Wolseley at Tel el 
Kebir, Sept* 13, 1882. Arabi was sent into exile in Ceylon. 

502. Lord Dufferin, an able British statesman, was sent into 
Egypt to work out a scheme of reform. He proposed that 
the Soudan should be given up to its ancient chiefs, while a 
railway should to be made from Suakim, on the Red Sea, to 
Berber, throwing open the country to European influence 
and trade. Gen. Charles Gordon, who had governed the 
Soudan, 1874-1879,- and was trusted by the people, was 
sent, in January, 1884, to withdraw the Egyptian garrisons 
and restore the country to the chiefs. He hoped to buy off 
the Mahdi with, the chieftaincy of Kordofan. This hope was 
disappointed, and he was besieged nearly a year in Khartoum, 
by the rebel forces. Deserted by the greater part of his na- 
tive garrison, he was treacherously murdered, Jan. 26, 1885. 
Gen. Stewart, marching to his relief, was defeated and mor- 
tally wounded. 

503. A motion to censure the Government for its dilatory 
action passed the House of Lords, and only barely failed in 
the Commons. Mr. Gladstone was defeated in the vote on 
the tax-bill, and in June, 1885, resigned his office. The 
Marquis of Salisbury, leader of the Conservatives, formed a 
Cabinet a fortnight later. 

Meanwhile yet greater troubles had arisen nearer home, 
and for some years absorbed the chief attention of the 
Government. 



263 HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. [A. D. 1882. 

504. Bad harvests and low prices of farm products caused 
famine and misery in Ireland, and in 1879 there was open 
revolt against the land laws. Mr. Parnell, President of the 
new Land League, advised tenants to pay no rents until re- 
duction was made by the landlords. He was expelled from 
Parliament, and was subsequently imprisoned in Ireland. 
Other speakers were arrested for ''seditious language." 
Many landlords were cruel and oppressive; others tried to 
meet the demands of their tenants and lighten their burdens. 
Captain Boycott, agent of the Earl of Erne, became acci- 
dentally famous. In revenge for supposed wrongs, laborers 
refused to harvest his crops, carmen to carry his parcels, 
shopkeepers to sell him goods. The instance was ill-chosen, 
for the Earl had lowered his rents, provided seed and tools, 
and in several ways treated his tenants with exceptional lib- 
erality. But " boycotting " has become the name for that 
kind of persecution, which, without trial, cuts a man off 
from ordinary dealings with his fellow-men. 

505. The Liberal party, under the lead of Mr. Gladstone, 
favored peasant proprietorship, i. e. , that the land should be 
owned by those who cultivate it, so far as this can be 
brought about by lawful purchase, with the aid of long loans 
from the Government. In his "Midlothian Campaign," 
before the elections of 1880, Gladstone made many brilliant 
and powerful speeches against the policy of the Conservative 
party, both in Ireland and abroad. His opponents were de- 
feated in the ensuing elections, and upon taking office he 
brought in a new Land Bill for Ireland, which became a law 
in August, 1 88 1. Though it secured many advantages to 
small farmers, it did not immediately relieve distress. Dis- 
contents gathered head, and the more lawless agitators 
became prominent. 

506. In May, 1882, Lord Frederick Cavendish, Chief Sec- 
retary for Ireland, and Mr. Burke, were murdered in Phcenix 
Park, Dublin. Attempts to intimidate the Government by 



A. D. 1887.] TROUBLES IN IRELAND. 269 

wholesale murder, followed. There were explosions of dy- 
namite at several railway stations in London, in the House 
of Commons during a recess, at the Tower of London, and 
at other places. But these outrages could, of course, benefit 
no one, least of all the Irish farmers and their misguided 
allies. The Prince of Wales made a tour of Ireland, in 1885, 
and was loyally received. 

507. The Conservative Government (§503) was defeated 
on its Irish Bill, January, t886, and Mr. Gladstone was 
called again to the head of affairs. He brought in a bill 
proposing a separate Parliament and substantial Home Rule 
for Ireland. Upon this he was deserted by many of his late 
followers, who formed a new party of Liberal Unionists, led 
by the Marquis of Harrington, and the bill was lost. Par- 
liament was dissolved, and, finding himself defeated in the 
ensuing elections, Gladstone resigned. Riots broke out in 
Belfast, and continued nearly all summer. Stones were 
thrown, and guns fired from the tops of houses, and many 
lives were lost. 

508. The National party in Ireland adopted, in October, 
1886, a new "Plan of Campaign." Rents were to be col- 
lected by a national committee, and held in trust for the ten- 
ant, in case the landlord should attempt eviction. The 
Government, in its turn, increased its army in Ireland, and 
passed a "Crimes Act," suspending trial by jury. 

(§144.) Editors and public speakers who advo- 
cated the Plan of Campaign, were imprisoned. On the other 
hand, Parliament has voted immense sums of money for 
loans to tenants, for building better houses for the poor, and 
for carrying forward public works for the improvement of the 
country. Good harvests in 1888, and increased foreign de- 
mand for their produce, encouraged the farmers, and "the 
year 1889 opened with brighter prospects for Ireland" than 
any since the formation of the Land League. (§504.) 



270 HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. [A. D. 1887. 

509. There has been great suffering among the "crofters," 
or small tenant-farmers, of Skye and the Western Highlands 
of Scotland, partly through the failure of their potato crops 
and herring fisheries, but chiefly because lands, where they 
were once free to pasture their cattle, have been rented for 
grouse-shooting, or fenced off for deer-parks and sheep- 
walks. A royal commission was sent to inquire into their 
case and propose means of relief. Some have been per- 
suaded to emigrate to Canada and to Australia. 

The right to vote has been several times extended during 
the present reign, and more equally proportioned to the 
population of counties. 

510. The reign of Victoria will be chiefly celebrated for 
movements connected with the advance of civilization and 
the diffusion of knowledge. The first ocean-steamer, the 

Savannah, crossed the Atlantic in the year of the 
Queen's birth ; but the immense growth ot steam 
communication, with all parts of the globe, has been since 
her accession to the throne. The ocean-cables which, in 
1858, and afterward more successfully in 1865, united Great 
Britain and America, have been followed by similar lines to 
the remotest regions, and Victoria is better informed of the 
hourly progress of affairs in Calcutta and Melbourne than 
was her grandfather of movements within a hundred miles 
of his capital. 

511. The power of the newspapers, only faintly felt a 
hundred years ago, is now greater than fleets, armies, the 
royal will, or Parliament itself; for they express the will of 
the people, which is recognized as the source of sovereignty. 
For centuries the education of the higher classes has been 
provided for by the great Universities of Oxford and Cam- 
bridge, St. Andrews and Dublin. It is only lately that suf- 
ficient instruction for the common people has been provided 
in National Schools; for, as a great statesman remarked, 
"We must educate our masters." And now the Universi- 



A. D. r887.] THE QUEEN" S JUBILEE. 271 

ties themselves are sending out lecturers to the manufacturing 
towns, and establishing a hall in the poorest and most 
crowded part of London, in order to give as freely as pos- 
sible to the people the benefits of their great endowments. 

512. June, 1887, completed the fiftieth year of Victoria's 
reign. Her "Jubilee" was celebrated in all parts of the 
Empire, but especially by a great assemblage in Westminster 
Abbey, the scene of her coronation. 



RECAPITULATION. 

Civil war in America threatens to involve England. Hostilities 
averted by arbitration. Beaconsfield's Imperial Policy. England 
mistress of Cyprus and Protector of Asiatic Turkey. Gladstone's 
Liberal Government. Arabi's revolt in Egypt. English fleet bom- 
bards Alexarldria. Gordon in the Soudan, besieged and killed. 
Two policies toward Ireland, The Land League and its Plan of 
Campaign. Phcenix Park murders and dynamite outrages. Crofters' 
troubles. Increase of suffrage. Progress during the reign of Victoria. 
University Extension. The Queen's Jubilee. 

Read : May's Constitutional History, with Supplement ; The Duke 
of Argyle's The Eastern Question; Mrs. Oliphant's Life of the Queen, 
articles in the Fortnightly , and other Magazines and Reviews, on the 
occasion of the "Jubilee," summing up the Progress in Literature 
and Science during the fifty years of Victoria's reign. 



IX. THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 




S we have now traced the prog- 
ress of events by which ' ' Wes- 
sex grew into England, England 
into Great Britain, Great Britain 
into the United Kingdom, and 
the United Kingdom into the 
British Empire," it only remains 
to note the present government 
of that great " Empire on which 
the sun never sets," and " whose 
morning drum-beat encircles the 
globe." 



Britannia. 



514. The supreme law-mak- 
ing power resides in Parliament, 
consisting of two branches, the Lords and the Commons. 
The House of Lords has four hundred and eighty-eight 
members, viz. : five royal dukes, two archbishops, twenty- 
one dukes, eighteen marquises, one hundred and ten earls, 
twenty- four viscounts, twenty-four bishops, two hundred and 
forty barons, sixteen Scotch and twenty-eight Irish repre- 
sentative peers. The last two classes are elected by their 
own order. The bishops hold their places by the Queen's 
appointment; all the rest by hereditary right. A Supreme 
Court has recently been created for the trial of such ap- 
pealed cases as were formerly decided by the House of 
Lords. 

515. The House of Commons has six hundred and sev- 
enty members, elected to represent counties, cities, or 
boroughs, and the universities. Three-fourths of all the 
(272J 



THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. 273 

members are from England and Wales. The Commons hold 
the power of the purse and the sword. Their first duty after 
assembling is to provide for the expenses of the government ; 
and this they are careful to do for only one year at a time. 
The Mutiny Act, by which alone in time of peace army 
officers can compel the obedience of their men, is also 
renewed each year; so that it is impossible for the govern- 
ment to oppress the people either by forced loans or by a 
military despotism. 

516. The executive power is nominally vested in the sov- 
ereign; but, as a king or queen can not legally be called to 
account, the responsibility is committed to a cabinet of min- 
isters. They hold office only so long as they have a majority 
in the House of Commons. At their head is the First Lord 
of the Treasury, who often holds the additional office of 
Chancellor of the Exchequer. He chooses his colleagues, 
who then become, severally, Lord Chancellor, Lord Privy 
Seal, President of the Council, or one of the five Secretaries 
of State. To these are usually added the Chief Commissioner 
of Public Works, the First Lord of the Admiralty, the Presi- 
dent of the Board of Trade, the Postmaster General, and the 
President of the Poor Law Board. 

517. Strange to say, the Cabinet, though forming for a 
hundred years so essential a part of the government, is not 
recognized by the laws, nor is any record made of its pro- 
ceedings. As its acts are subject to question and criticism 
in Parliament, all its members must belong to one or other 
of the two Houses of Lords and Commons. But so real is 
their power that they are commonly called "the Govern- 
ment." 

518. If any important measure proposed by the govern- 
ment is lost in Parliament, the ministry usually resign, with- 
out waiting for the "vote of want of confidence," which 
would effectually end their power. The Queen then sends 
for the leader of the opposing party, whom she requests to 

Eng.— 18. 



274 HOUSE OF BRUNSWICK. 

form a Cabinet, and the late ministry, in their turn, ' ' go into 
opposition." It has been wittily and truly said that the gov- 
ernment of Great Britain is a duarchy, consisting of the First 
Lord of the Treasury and the Chief of the Opposition. The 
latter, though holding no office except his place in Parlia- 
ment, is the principal critic of government measures, and is 
ready to assume chief power upon any change of sentiment 
in the country at large. 

Read A. C. Ewald's The Croxon and its Advisers; Palgrave's The 
House of Commons. 



QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 



PART V. 



1. What attempts by the Stuarts to regain the British throne? 

§§406, 407, 4H, 4i5 

2. Reasons for alliance between England and France. 408 
j. What cause of complaint against the first two Hanoverian 

kings? . 409, 414 

4. Describe the South Sea Scheme and its results. 410 

5. What causes of dispute between Spain and England? 412 

6. What led to War of Austrian Succession ? 413 

7. How did it affect the American colonies? 416 

8. What part had England in the Seven Years' War? 417, 418, 423 

9. What was the French policy in America? 419, 427 

10. What changes in India? 420, 421, 439, 440, 482-484 

11. Describe the reign and character of George III. 422, 436, 451, 459 

12. The ministry of the elder Pitt. 417, 418, 423, 428, 436 

13. The grievances of the American colonies. 426-429 

14. The War of Independence, and its effect upon 

England. 430-43$ 

15. How was England affected by the French Revolution? 441-443 

16. What part had she in wars with Napoleon? 444-450 

17. Describe the war with the United States. 452-454 

18. The last years of Napoleon. 455, 456 

19. Results of the Twenty Years' War. 457, 458 

20. Character of George IV. 459 

21. Policy of Canning's administration. 460 

22. The rise and progress of newspapers. 387, 395, 425, 492 

23. Tell the history of Parliamentary Reform. 424, 425, 463-465 

24. What part was taken by England in the Greek Revolution ? 461 

25. Describe William IY. 462 

26. What revolutions in 1830? 463 

27. Describe Peel's administration. 465, 468, 469 

28. What were the demands of the Chartists? 468, 470 

1275.) 



276 GENERAL REVIEW QUESTIONS. 

29. What were the events of 1848? % 470, 471 

30. What led to the Russo-Turkish War? 473, 474 

31. Describe the campaigns of Omar Pasha. 475, 476 

32. The Invasion of the Crimea. 477-481 

33. The Sepoy Rebellion. 482, 483 

34. What can you tell of the war with China? 485, 486 

35. What recent additions to the British Empire in the East? 488-494 

36. How was England affected by the American Civil War? 495, 496 

37. Describe the "Imperial Policy" and its effects. 497-499 

38. What of the troubles in Egypt ? 5°°-5°3 

39. Describe the agitations in Ireland. 504-508 

40. The "Crofters'" troubles in Scotland. 509 

41. What evidences of progress during Victoria's reign? 510, 512 

42. What is the supreme law-making power in the British 

Empire? 5 T 4, 5*5 

42. Describe the executive power. 516-518 



GENERAL REVIEW. 

How many races have ruled England ? 

How many different seats of government? 

What was Egbert's capital ? 

What foreign princes have been educated in England ? 

What English kings have spent their youth in exile ? 

What kings of England died in France ? 

How many died by violence? 

How many queens have ruled England in their own right ? 

Name the four chief rivers of England. 

What are the boundaries between England and Scotland ? 

Name the counties on the southern coast. 

<< " " " eastern " 

" " two most northern counties. 
What counties border on Wales? 
Name all the inland counties. 
What are the principal English seaports? . 
What neighboring islands belong to Great Britain? 
Name the two largest cities in Scotland. 

" the chief towns in Ireland, 



INDEX 



Note. — Italic letters following the name designate the maps on which it may be 
found. See Contents for location of the Maps. Figures refer to pages. 



Al/ercrombie, Gen., 238. 

Aberdeen 7 , /, 185. 

" Lord, 253. 

Ab / ingdon, Hi, 54. 

A / bury, //, 12. 

Acre (a / ker), 76, 237. 

Ad'dison, Joseph, 215. 

Adelaide, Queen, 247. 

Adrian, Pope, 135. 

yElla, 22. 

Ae'tius, 18. 

Afghanistan, war with, 260. 

Agincourt (a-zhitN-koor'), iv, ?'i, 
battle of, in, 112. 

Agric'ola, 14. 

Aidan, 20. 

Aix-la-Chapelle (aks-la-shiipeF) , 
iv, 194; Treaty of, 223. 

Albany, City, 193. 

" Duke of, 109, no. 

Albemarle, Duke of. See Monk. 

Albert, Prince, 251, 260. 

Alcuin, 53. 

Alfred. See England, Sovereigns of. 

Ambro'sius, 18. 

America, discov. of, 128; Drake's 
voyage to, 155; slavery in, 
157; colonies in, 164; migra- 
tion to, 172; Commonwealth 
recognized, 185; Dutch set- 
tlements seized, 193; 214; 
French and Indian War, 223- 
225; Rev. in, 229-235; 246; 
Civil War in, 264, 265. 



Am / iens, iv, 238. 
Angles, 20, 22. 
Anglesey, i, Hi, vi, 13. 
Anglia, ii, Hi, 20. 
Anjou (iiN-zhoo'), 2V > Geoffrey, 
Count of, 66; 68; 78; re- 
stored to France, 99 ; Philip, 
Duke of, 210. 
Anne Ascue burnt, 142. 
" of Bohemia, 106. 
" Boleyn (booFen), 136; mar- 
riage confirmed, 138; be- 
headed, 140. 
" of Cleves, 140. 
" Stuart. See Great Britain, 
Sovereigns of. 
Anselm, Archbishop of Canter- 
bury, 63 ; contest with king, 
64; 65. 
Antwerp, iv, destroyed, 155 ; un- 
der Napoleon, 237. 
Aquitaine', 68, 78. 
Archangel, 157. 
Arcot', v, capture and defense of, 

225. 
Argyle, Earl and Marquis of, 
leader of Covenanters, 172; 
179; executed, 192. 
Argyle, Earl of, beheaded, 201. 
Argyleshire, 17. 
Arlington, Earl of, 194. 
Ar'magh, ?', university at, 19. 
Artevelde, Jacques van (zhiik), 96. 
Arthur, King, 19. 

(277) 



278 



INDEX. 



Art. 



Arthur, Prince of Brittany, 78. 

Ascalon, 76. 

Ashley, 194. 

Asia, 98; 128 ; 210; 225. 

Ath 7 elstan, Prince, 27. 

" King. See England, 

Sovereigns of. 

At'tila, 18. 

Au'gustine, missionary to Eng- 
land, 22. 

Australia, 260-263. 

Austria, Duke of, 77 ; War of the 
Succession, 221-223 ; defeated 
by Napoleon, 238 ; joins Holy 
Alliance, 244; in Crimean 
War, 252-255. 

Bacon, Sir Nicholas, 151. 
Roger, 86. 
" Francis, 160; 166. 
Baker, Sir Samuel, in Africa, 261. 
Balaklava, battle of, 253. 
Baliol, John, crowned, 89; sub- 
mits to Edward L, 90; 96. 
Ball, John, 105. 
Baltic Sea, 26 ; 104 ; 254. 
Bannockburn, defeat at, 95. 
Bar 7 bary, 188. 
Barfleur 7 , iv, vi, 66. 
Barnet, i, battle at, 121. 
Beachy Head, vi, 208. 
Beaufort, Cardinal, 116. 
Becket, Thomas, life of, 70-73. 
Bede, Venerable, 52. 
Belgium, 236; 247. 
Belleisle (bel-lle 7 ), *v, 228. 
Benedictines, 2^1 5 2 - 
Bengal 7 , v, 225; 235. 
Berengaria of Navarre, 76. 
Berlin 7 , Napoleon at, 239. 
Berni / cia, //, 20. 
Bertha, Queen of Kent, 22 ; 23. 
Berwick, i, Hi, vi, 76; 90; 96. 
Birmingham, vi, 228; 247. 



Black Sea, 255. 

Black 7 water R., i, battle at, 159. 

Blake, Adm., in Portugal, 185; 
defeats Van Tromp, 186; de- 
feats the Spaniards, dies, 188. 

Blenheim, battle of, 213. 

Boadicea, 13, 14. 

Boethius, 30. 

Bohe / mia, 97 ; Reformation in, 
106; 165 ; 167. 

Boleyn. See Anne of. 

Bombay 7 , v, 195; 225; 235. 

Bonaparte. See Napoleon I. 
" Joseph, 240. 

Bonner, Bishop of London, 146. 

Bordeaux (-do 7 ), iv, 100. 

Boston, during Revolution, 230, 

231- 

Bosworth Field, i, vi, bat. of, 124. 

Bothwell Bridge, vi, bat. of, 198. 
" Earl of,, marries Mary, 
Queen of Scots, 154. 

Boulogne (boo-lOn 7 ), iv, vi, 141, 
238. 

Bourges (boorzh), iv, 114. 

Boyle, Robert, invents air-pump, 
204. 

Boyne, battle of the, i, 208. 

Bradshaw, John, judge of Charles 
I., 180; 191. 

Braganza, Catherine of, 195. 

Brandon, Charles, Duke of Suf- 
folk, 133. 

Breda (bra 7 da), 190; 193. 

Bretigny (breteen 7 ye), iv, 99. 

BretwaPda, 20 ; 22. 

Brihtric (bre 7 trik), King of Wes- 
sex, 24. 

Bristol, i, Hi, vi, captured by Ru- 
pert, 176; surrendered, 178. 

Britain, ii, early history of, 9-19. 

Britons, and Romans, 1 1— 1 5 ; in 
the west, 19; Christianity 
among, 20, 23 ; 24. 



Cha. 



TXDEX. 



Brittany, iv, 78; 96; 123. 
Brock, Gen., captures Detroit, 242. 
Brougham (broom), Lord, 247. 
Bruce, Robert, life of, 92-94. 

" David, 95, 96. 
Bru'nanburgh, Hi, battle at, 36. 
Brussels, 189. 
Buckingham, Duke (if, his career, 

166-171. 
Burgoyne, Gen., surrenders, 232. 
Burke, Edmund, 235. 
Burleigh, Lord, (William Cecil,) 

151, 160. 
Bury St. Edmunds, ///, vi, 28. 
Bute, Earl of, 227; 228. 
Byng, Admiral, executed, 224. 

Cabal, names of, 194. 

Cabot, his discoveries, 128. 

Cade, Jack, 117. 

Ca'diz, 155; burnt, 158. 

Caedmon, poet, 53 ; 107. 

Caen (koN), tv, 62. 

Cresar, Julius, .11. 

Calais (ka-la')> h >l \ > 7 S 7 ' 1 \ captured 

by Edward III., 97, 98; 100; 

Field of Cloth of Gold at, 134 ; 

captured by French, 149. 
Calcutta, v, 225 ; 235. 
Caledo'nians, 14; 17. 
Cam / bridge, i, Hi, vi, 262. 
Cambusken'neth, 92. 
Campbell, Sir Colin, 257. 
Campeg'gio, papal legate, 136. 
Camperdown, battle off, 237. 
Campian, executed, 155. 
Canada, 230, 231; invaded, 242; 

revolt in, 250. 
Canning, George, in Cabinet, 246. 
Canterbury, /-///, vt, archbishopric 

founded, 23 ; Dunstan, apb. 

of, 38; Stigand, apb. of, 50; 

Anselm, apb. of, 63 ; Becket, 

apb. of, 71 ; Henry II. at, 73. 



Canton, 261. 

Caracalla, Emp. of Romans, 15. 

Carac / tacus (Caradoc), 12. 

Carau'sius, Ct. of Saxon Bord., 16 

Cardiff, i, ii, vi, 66. 

Car'ibbee Islands, captured, 228. 

Car'isbrook, Charles I. at, 179. 

Carlisle, i-iii, vi, battle at, 90; 93. 

Caroline of Anspach, wife of 
George II., 220. 

Caroline of Brunswick, wife of 
George IV., 244. 

Carr, Robert, favorite of James I., 
166. 

Carrickfer'gus, i, besieged, 208. 

Cartagena, S. A., English re- 
pulsed at, 221. 

Castile (kas-teel'), Black Prince 
in, 100; 103. 

Castlereagh, Lord, minist. of, 244. 

Catherine of Aragon, marries Ar- 
thur, 130; marries Henry 
VIII., 132; divorced, 136-138. 

Catherine of Braganza, wife of 
Charles II., 195. 

Cavendish, Sir Thomas, 160. 

Cawnpore / , v, massacre at, 257. 

Caxton, William, introduces print- 
ing, 121, 122. 

Cecil, Robert, 160. 

" William. See Bitrleigk, 

Celts, 10; 35. 

Cerdic, founder of Wessex. 24: 

47 5 65; 
Ceylon 7 , v, 225. 
Chalgrove Field, vi, 176. 
Champlain Lake, 242. 
Charlemagne, 23, 24; 237. 
Charles I. of Spain (Emp. Charles 

v.), 134-136; 146. 

Charles II. of Spain, 210. 
IV. " 240. 

" VI., Emp., son of Leopold 
I., 210. 



280 



INDEX. 



Cha. 



Charles V. of France, ioo; 103. 

VII. " 112-116. 

VIII. " 129. 

» X. » 247. 

" XII. of Sweden, 219. 
, " I. and II. of England. 
See Great Britain, Sovereigns of. 

Charles of Anjou, 116. 

Charlotte, Princess, 244. 

Chartists, 250, 251. 

Chaucer, Geoffrey, poet, 106, 107. 

Chester, i, Hi, vi, 17; 29. 

Chevalier St. George. See Stuart, 
James Francis. 

Cheviot Hills, i, vi, 133. 

China, 160; war in, 259, 260. 

Clare, Richard de, subdues Ire- 
land, 72. 

Clarendon, Constitutions of, 71. 
" Earl of, 172; 194. 

Clarkson, Thomas, 248. 

Clement VII., Pope, 135, 136. 

Clive, Robert, 225; 235. 

Clyde, Firth of, ii, Hi, vi, 14. 

Cobden, Richard, 250. 

CoLchester, i, ii, vi, burnt, 14. 

Cologne, iv, 189. 

Colun/ba, at Iona, 20. 

Columbus, Christopher, 128; 149. 

Commonwealth, The, 183-190. 

Comyn, Earl, 92. 

Constantine the Great, Emp., 17. 

Constantinople, 59; 128; 252,253. 

Constan / tius Chlo'rus, Emp., 17. 

Cook, Captain, 258. 

Copenhagen, bombarded, 240. 

Cork, i, 158. 

Cornwall, i, ii, vi, Britons in, 19 ; 
23; rebellion in, 130; 176. 

Cornwallis, Lord, surrend. of, 233. 

Cranmer, Thomas, advises king, 
137; archbp., 138; compiles 
Prayer Book, 143 ; burnt, 148. 

Crecy, iv, vi, battle of, 97. 



Crimea, war in, 253-255. 

Cromwell, Oliver, 172; in com- 
mand, 177-179; in Ireland, 
183, 184; dissolves Parlia- 
ment, 186; Lord Protector, 
187; dies, 189; 191 ; 195. 

Cromwell, Richard, 189. 

Cromwell, Thomas, Secretary of 
State, 137; Vicar-gen., 139; 
severity of, beheaded, 140. 

Cronstadt, 254. 

Crusades, first, 64; 75, 76; eighth, 
85 ; results of, 86. 

Cullo / den Moor, battle of, 223. 

Cumberland, vi, 39 ; 90. 

" Duke William of, 222-224. 
" Duke Ernest of. See Er- 
nest Augustus. 

Cumbria. See Strathclyde, 19 ; 54. 

Cuthbert, missionary, 20. 

Cyprus, Richard I. at, 76. 

Dal'rymple, Sir John, 208. 
Danelagh, 33; desolated, 58. 
Danes, 26-30; 35-43- 
Danube, 253 ; 255. 
Darnley, Lord, 150 ; marries Queen 

of Scots, killed, 154. 
David I. of Scotland, 67. 
Dee, R., in, vi, 3$. 
Deira, ii, Hi, 20-23 ; becomes 

Yorkshire, 37. 
Delaware, R., 205 ; 232. 
Delhi (del'lee), v, captured, 257. 
Denmark, 39; 43; 61; 237; war 

with, 240. 
Derby, i, Hi, vi, 222. 
" Earl of, 247. 
Derwentwater, E. of, behead., 219. 
Despenser, Hugh, favorite of Ed- 

ward II., 95. 
Detroit, captured, 242. 
Det / tingen, battle of, 222. 
Devi'zes, vi, battle at, 176. 



Eng. 



INDEX. 



281 



Dev'on, vi, 19. 

De Witt, Dutch minister, 194. 

D'Isra'eli, Prime Minister, 265. 

Dominicans, rise of, 86, 87. 

Douay', 155. 

Dover, i-iv, vi, tumult in, 44 ; 47 ; 

surrendered to William, 50; 

defended, 83; Treaty of, 194, 

195- 
Dowlah, Surajah, 225. 
Drake, Adm., voyage of, 155; 

off Spain, 157. 
Drogheda, z, 158; captured, 183. 
Druids, account of, 12, 13. 
Dryden, John, poet, 191. 
Dublin, i, 129; 158; 174; 262. 
Dudley, serves Henry VII., 131. 
Dumbarton, i, 90. 
Dumfries 7 , i, vi, 92. 
Dunbar, i, ii, vi, 90; 96; 184. 
Dundee 7 , i, massacre at, 185. 
" Viscount, brutality of, 

198; killed, 207. 
Dunkirk, vi, acquired, 188; sold, 

192; 214. 
Dun'stan, career of, 36-39 ; 52. 
Duquesne (-kane), fort, 225. 
Dutch, navy, 186; 193, 194. 

Eadburga, 24. 

East Anglia, ii, Hi, 20, 24. 

East India Company, charter re- 
newed, 164; its forts, 225; 
its power, 235; limited, 236; 
256 ; gov't of India transferred 
to the crown, 257 ; 260. 

Edgar, Edred, Edwin, Egbert, etc. 
See England, Sovereigns of. 

Edinburgh, became capital, 38; 
96; 180; seized by Cromwell, 
184; surprised, 222. 

Edric, Duke of Mercia, 41. 

Egypt, Napoleon in, 237, 238 ; 
England in, 265; troubles in, 
266, 267. 



Eleanor of Aquitaine, mar. Henry 
II., 68; aids revolt, 73; 77. 

Eleanor of Provence, mar. Henry 
III., S3, 84. 

Elgiva (el-ge'vii), qu. of Edwy, 37. 

Eliot, Sir John, imprisoned, 169. 

Emma of Normandy, 40 ; 42. 

Empson, serves Henry VII., 131. 

England, Sovereigns of: 

Saxon Line. 
With date of Accession. 
Egbert, A. D. 827, 24-27. 
Ethelwolf, 837, 27. 
Ethelbald, 858, 27. 
Ethelbert, 860, 27. 
Ethelred, 866, 27. 
Alfred, 871, 27-31; 53. 
Edward L, 901, 31. 
Athelstan, 925, 35, 36. 
Edmund, 940, 36. 
Edred, 946, 36. 
Edwy, 955, 37. 
Edgar, 958, 37-39. 
Edward II., 975, 39. 
Ethelred II., 978, 39-41. 
Edmund II., 1016, 41, 42. 

Danish Kings. 

Knut, A. D. 1016, 40-43. 
Harold I., 1935, 43. 
Hardiknut, 1040, 43. 

Saxons Restored. 

Edward III., the Confessor, 

A. D. 1042, 43-48. 
Harold II., 1 066, 46-50. 

Norman Line. 

William I., A. D. 1066, 45, 

49-51, 54, 57-62. 
William II., 1087, 62-65. 
Henry I., 1 100, 62, 65-67. 
Stephen, 1 135, 67-69. 



282 



INDEX. 



Eng. 



England, Sovereigns of, (contin.) : 

Plantagenets. 

Henry II., A. D. 1 154, 68-74. 
Richard I., 1 189, 74-77. 
John, 1 199, 74, 77-Si. 
Henry III., 1216, 83-S7. 
Edward I., 1272, 85, 88-93. 
Edward II., 1307, 94; 95. 
Edward III., 1327, 95-101. 
Richard II., 1377, 102-106. 

House of Lancaster. 

Henry IV., A. D. 1399, 104, 

108-110. 
Henry V., 1413, 110-113. 
Henry VI., 1422, 114-121. 

House of York. 

Edward IV., A. D. 1461, 

1 18-122. 
Edward V., 1483, 123. 
Richard III., 1483, 122-124. 

Tudors. 

Henry VII., A. D. 1485, 123; 

124; 127-131. 
Henry VIII., 1509, 132-142. 
Edw.VI.,1547, 140; 143-145. 
Mary, 1553, 136; i45-!49- 
Elizabeth, 1558-1603, 138; 
151-160; 194. — See Great 
Britain, Sovereigns of. 
Engles. See Angles. 
English Pale, 158. 
Enniscor'thy, i, 237. 
EnniskiFlen, i, 208. 
Erie, L., defeat on, 242. 
Ernest Augustus, D. of Cumber- 
land, 215 ; King of Hanover, 
248. 
Essex, ii, Hi, vi, 20; 27. 

" 2d Earl of, Elizabeth's favor- 
ite, 159. 



Essex, 3d Earl of, in command, 

175-177. 
" 4th Earl of, in Rye House 
Plot, 197. 
Ethandune, i, Hi, 28, 29. 
Eugene of Savoy, at Blenheim, 213. 
Eustace of Boulogne, visits Eng- 
land, 44. 
Evesham, /, battle at, 85. 

Fairfax, Sir Thomas, in command, 
176-178. 

Falkirk, i, battles near, 92, 223. 

Falkland, Lord, killed, 176. 

Fawkes, Guy, plot of, 163. 

Ferdinand I., King of Spain, 130; 
conquers Navarre, 132. 

Ferdinand VII., King of Spain, 
proclaimed, 240. 

Ferdinand II. of Austria, 165. 

Fiji Islands, acquired, 262. 

Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, be- 
headed, 138. 

Flanders, iv i 49; 90; trade with, 
103 ; 149 ; Marlborough in, 
213. 

Flemings, invade Eng., 73; 99; 
weavers settle in Eng., 101. 

Flint Castle, i, vi, 104. 

Flodden Field, i, vi, battle of, 133. 

Florida, 221 ; acquired, 228. 

Forth, Firth of, i-iii, 14. 

Foth'eringay, i, Qu. Mary at, 156. 

Fox, Geo., founds Quakers, 205. 
" Chas. James, minister, 239. 

France, iv, 26; war with, 90, 91 ; 
Edward III. in, 96; 101, 103; 
Henry V. and VI. in, III-116; 
132; under Francis I., 133- 
135; acquires Calais, 149; 
under Francis II., 153; 194; 
James II. in, 203 ; under 
Louis XIV., 210-214; Rev- 
olution in, 236; under Napo- 



Gut. 



INDEX. 



28" 



leon, 237-243; 246; under 
Louis Philippe, 247 ; in Cri- 
mea, 252-255. 
Francis I., K. of France, 133-135. 
• " II., « 153. 

Franciscans, rise of, 86 ; 87. 
Frederic, Elect. Palatine, 165 ; 175. 
" the Great, England aids, 
221, 222 ; 224. 
Fro / bisher, Sir Martin, 160. 

Gardiner, Bishop, Mary favors, 

146, 147. 
Gaunt, John of, in Spain, 100, 

103 ; dies, 104. 
Gaunt, Mrs. Elizabeth, burnt, 201. 
Gaveston, Piers, favorite, 94. 
Geneva, iv, 153; arbitration at, 

260. 
George I., II., III., IV. See Great 

Britain, Sovereigns of. 
Germany, 96; Charles V., Emp. 

of, 134, 136, 147; Napoleon 

in, 239. 
Ghent, iv, John of, 100; submis- 
sion of, 103 ; Treaty of, 243. 
Gibraltar, 213, 214; 233; 240. 
Giurge / vo, battle at, 253. 
Gladstone, Wm. E. premier, 266; 

defeated, 267. 
Glasgow, i, vi, 154; 198; 223. 
Glastonbury, Hi, vi, 36. 
Glencoe 7 , i, massacre of, 208. 
Gloucester (glos'ter), /, ii, vi, ^t,. 
Earl of, 68. 

" Dukes of, 103, 116. 

Godfrey, 195; 200. 
Godoy, Prince of the Peace, 240. 
Godwin, Earl, history of, 43-46. 
Good Hope, Cape of, 128. 
Graham. See Dundee, Viscount. 
Grasse, Count de, defeated, 233. 
Gravelines (grii-va-leei/), iv, 135. 
Great Britain, i, Phoenicians in, 10; 



Danes in, 39; 88; union of, 
213 ; government of, 263. Sec 
England, Sovereigns of. 
Great Britain, Sovereigns of: 

House of Stuart. 

With date of Accession. 
James I., A. D. 1603, 154; 

162-167. 
Charles I., 1625, 167-181. 
Commonwealth, 1 649-1 660, 

183-190. 
Charles II., 1660, 181-185; 

189-199. 
James II., 1685-1688, 193; 

195-198; 200-205; 208-210. 
Interregnum of two months. 
William III. and Mary II., 

1689, 198; 202; 203; 207- 

209. 
William III. alone, 1694, 

209-211. 
Anne, 1702, 198; 209; 212- 

215- 

House of Hanover 
(Brunswick). 

George I., A. D. 1714, 218- 
220. 

George II., 1727, 220-226. 

George III., 1760, 226-245. 

George IV., 1820, 241 ; 243- 
247. 

William IV., 1830, 247-240. 

Victoria, 1837, 248-271. 
Greeks, 1 1 ; 246. 
Gregory I., Pope, 22; 23. 
Grenville, Lord, minister, 229. 
Grey, Lady J., history of, 145-147. 

" Earl, premier, 247. 
Grosseteste (-tate), Bishop, 85. 
Guienne (ge-er/), iv, 78 ; 88; 90; 

98; lost, 116; 132. 
Guthrum, Danish chief, 2S; 29. 



284 



INDEX. 



Had. 



Hadrian, Emperor, 14. 

Halifax, settled, 223. 

Halley, astronomer, 204. 

Hammond, Col., 179. 

Hampden John, refusal of forced 
loan, 170; of ship money, 
172; death of, 176. 

Hampden John, grandson, 197. 

Hampshire (Hants), w, 64. 

Hampton Court, /, Wolsey at, 134; 
conference at, 164. 

Hanover, House of, 215; 224; 
238 ; connection with Eng- 
land broken, 248. See Great 
Britain. 

Harfleur, i, iv, vi, III. 

Harold Hardrada, 49. 

Harold I. and II. See England, 
Sovereigns of. 

Harry Hotspur, killed, 109. 

Hastings, port, i, Hi, iv, vi, 50. 
" Warren, trial of, 235. 

Havana, captured, 228. 

Havelock, Gen., defends Luck- 
now, 257- 

Hawkins, John, 157. 

Heligoland, captured, 240. 

Hengist, 18. 

Henrietta Maria, 167; 175. 

Henry of Lancaster. See Eng- 
land, Sovereigns of. 

Henry L, II., HI., IV., V., VI., 
VII., and VIII. See Eng- 
land, Sovereigns of 

Henry II., of France, 142; 153. 

Heptarchy, 19; 20; 25. 

Hilda, Abbess, 53. 

Hindus, 225 ; 257. 

Hindustan, v, 225 ; war in, 256- 
258. 

Hobbs, philosopher, 204. 

Holderness, Hi, burnt, 49. 

Holland, Danes in, 26 ; 175; com- 
merce of, 185; 190; 193; 



Triple Alliance of, 194; 202; 
recognizes United States, 233 ; 
French in, 236; Belgium sep- 
arates from, 247. 

Hong Kong, acquired, 261. 

Honorius, Emperor, 18. 

Hooker, Richard, author, 160. 

Horsa, 18. 

Howard, Catherine, wife of Hen- 
ry VIII., 141. 

Howard, Lord, of Effingham, de- 
feats Armada, 157. 

Howe, Lord, at New York, 232; 
relieves Gibraltar, 234. 

Hubert de Burgh, 83. 

Hudson Bay, 214. 

" River, 193; 232. 

Huguenots, 170. 

Humber River, /, ii, Hi, vi, 31; 
Northmen in, 39; 58. 

Hyde, Anne, wife of Jas. II., 198. 

Iceni, ii, 13. 

" Imperial Federation," 262. 

India, v, 128; 160; 164; 225, 
256-258. 

Indus, R., v, 256. 

Inkermann, battle at, 254. 

Innocent III., Pope, 78-81. 

Inverness, i, 223. 

Io / na, ii, 20. 

Ipswich, i, vi, 134. 

Ireland, i, Christianity in, 17, 19; 
Elgiva in, 37; Edgar in, 38; 
Danes in, 39, 49; 53; con- 
quest of, 72-74; 92; 94; 104; 
Simnel in, 129; Tyrone's Re- 
bellion, 158, 159; Scotch in, 
164; Wentworth in, 171; re- 
bellion in, 173; Cromwell in, 
183 ; William of Orange in, 
208; French in, 236; united 
with Great Britain, 237; 
troubles in, 267-269. 



Lon. 



INDEX. 



*«5 



Ireion, Gen., at Naseby, 178; 179; 

dies, 185 ; 191. 
Isabella, Queen of Edward II., 

91; her conduct, 95; 96. 
Isabella of Spain, 130; bigotry 

of, 149. 
Italy, 134; 147; 237. 

Jackson, Gen., at New Orleans, 

243- 

Jamaica, captured, 188; 233; 250. 

James I. and II. See Great Brit- 
ain, Sovereigns of. 

James I. of Scotland captured, 109. 

James IV. of Scotland, favors 
Perkin Warbeck, 130; killed 
at Flodden Field, 133. 

James V. of Scotland, 141. 

Jamestown, settled, 164. 

Jarrow, Bede at, ii, Hi, 52. 

Jedburgh, Hi, 90. 

Jeffreys, Geo., Chief Justice, 201. 

Jews, persecuted, 75 ; expelled, 
88, 89 ; allowed to return, 
188. 

Joan of Arc, her career, 115. 

John, King. See England, Sov- 
ereigns of. 

John, Duke of Lancaster. See 
Gaunt, John of. 

Judith educates Alfred, 27. 

Judith, Lady, wife of Waltheof, 
59, 60. 

Jutes, in Kent, 18 ; 20. 

Kenilworth Castle, i, vi, 95. 
Kenmure, Vise, of, beheaded, 219. 
Kent, ii, Hi, vi, Germans land in, 

18; 22; 24; 27; Northmen 

land in, 30. 
Killiecrankie, battle at, 207. 
Kinsale, i, 208. 
Kirke, Col., brutality of, 201. 
Kloster Seven, Convention of, 224. 



Knox, John, reformer, 153. 
Knut. Set England, Sovereigns of . 

La Hogue, iv, vi, battle of, 209. 

Lambert, Gen., 189. 

Lancaster, E. of, beheaded, 95. 
" Dukes of. See Jo hn of 

Gaunt and Henry IV. 

Lanfranc, primate, 59; dies, 63. 

Langland, poet, 107. 

Langton, Steph., primate, 78-81. 

Lansdown Hill, battle at, 176. 

Latimer, Bishop, burnt, 148. 

Laud, Abp. of Canterbury, 171 ; 
beheaded, 173. 

Lauderdale, Duke of, in Cabinet, 
194; Gov. of Scotland, 198. 

Leicester, Earl of. See Montfort. 

Leicestershire (les / ter-), i, vi, 124. 

Leith, vi, battles at, 153, 184. 

Leopold I. of Belgium, 245; 247. 

Leslie, Gen., in command, 172; 
at Dunbar, 184. 

Leuthen (loi'ten), battle at, 224. 

Limerick, i, 185; Pacification of, 
209. 

Lincoln, i, ii, Hi, vi, battles at, 
68, 83. 

Lindisfarne I., ii, 20. 

Lisle, Lady Alice, beheaded, 201. 

Livingstone, explorer, 261. 

Lochlev'en, i, 154. 

Locke, John, 204. 

Loire R., iv, 99, 114. 

London, i-iii, vi, destroyed by 
Britons, 14; 17; 23; 29; Wi- 
tan at, 33; besieged, 39; 
Knut at, 42; Godwin at, 45; 
58; French in, 81; Jews 
hanged at, 88; Wat Tyler in, 
102; Jack Cade in, 117; pro- 
gress of, 155; favors parlia- 
ment, 175; occupied by the 
army, 179-181 ; Monk in, 189- 



286 



INDEX. 



Lon. 



191 ; fire and plague in, 193; 
203; Chartists in, 251; Ex- 
position at, 252. 

Londonderry, i, besieged, 208. 

Lo'thian, 1%; 54. 

Louis IV. of France, 35. 

" VIII. of France, Prince, in 
England, 81 ; 8^. 

Louis XII. of France, 133. 

Louis XIV. of France, receives 
Chas. II., 185 ; signed Treaty 
of Breda, 193 ; Treaty of Aix- 
la-Chapelle, 194; aids James 
II., 202, 203; revokes Edict 
of Nantes, 204 ; recognizes 
Wm. III., 210; in his old 
age, 214; recognizes Geo. I., 
218; dies, 219. 

Louis XV. of France, 219. 

Louis XVI. of France, exec, 236. 

Louis XVIII. of France, 244. 

Louis Philippe, 247; 251. 

Louis Napoleon. See Napoleon 
III. 

Louisbourg, captured, 223. 

Lucknow, v, siege of, 257. 

Luther, reformer, 136, 137. 

Lutterworth, vt, 106. 

Macbeth, Thane of Moray, 46. 
Madras 7 , v, 225; 235. 
Madrid, Chas. I. at, 167; 241. 
Magna Charta, 79-82. 
Maine, iv, 68 ; 99 ; 116. 
Malakoff, fort, 254. 
Malcolm I., K. of Scots, 36. 

« IL, " 38. 

" HI., " 46; 59. 

Malta, acquired, 238 ; 253. 
Man, Isle of, i-iii, vi, 38. 
Manchester, i, Hi, vi, 228 ; 244. 

" Earl of, 177. 

Mantes, iv, burnt, 61. 
Mar, Earl of, revolt of, 218. 



Margaret of Anjou, marries Hen- 
ry VI., 116; in the War of 
the Roses, 117-121. 

Margaret of Norway, 89. 

Maria Theresa (te-ree'sa), of Aus- 
tria, 221-223. 

Marlborough, Duke of, in com- 
mand, 213; in disfavor, 214; 
assists Pretender, 218. 

Marlborough, Duchess of, favor- 
ite, 209; dismissed, 214. 

Marston Moor, i, battle of, 176. 

Mary, Queen of Scots, born, 141 ; 
sent to France, 144; widow 
of Francis II. , 153; marries 
Darnley, 154; imprisoned, 
155; executed, 156; 157; 162. 

Mary I. and II. See England 'and 
Great Britain, Sovereigns of. 

Mary of Modena, marries James 
II. , 198; 203. 

Masham, Mrs. favorite, 214. 

Massachusetts, settled, 165 ; 223 ; 
charter annulled, 230; Revo- 
lution begins, 231. 

Matilda of England, marries C. 
of Anjou, 66; invades Eng- 
land, 67; Queen, 68; 136. 

Matilda of Flanders, Queen of 
William I., 60, 61. 

Matilda of Scotland, Queen of 
Henry L, 65. 

Maximilian, Emp. death of, 134. 

Mediterranean, 214; 224; 237. 

Mee/rut, v, massacre at, 257. 

Melbourne, founded, 259. 

Melrose, i, vi, 20. 

Menai, Straits, H, 13. 

Mercia, Hi, 20; 23, 24. 

Methven, ?', battle at, 93. ' 

Middlesex, ii, Hi, vi, 20. 

Mil'an, 134; Decree, 240. 

Milford Haven, i, vi, 124. 

Milton, John, poet, 191, 



Nor. 



INDEX. 



287 



Minor'ca, acquired, 214; seized 

by the French, 224 ; restored 

to Eng., 228; lost, 233, 234. 
Mississippi River, 224. 
Moldavia, seized by Russia, 252 ; 

lost, 253. 
Mona, Island of, ii, 13. 
Monk, Gen., subdues Scotland, 

185; aids Restoration, 189; 

Duke of Albemarle, 191. 
Monmouth, D. of, in Rye House 

plot, 197; at Bothwell Br., 

198 ; assumes royal title, 200 ; 

executed, 201. 
Montfort, Simon de, made Earl 

of Leicester, 84 ; summoned 

a parliament, 85. 
Montrose, Marquis of, 184. 
Morcar, Earl of Northumberland, 

48; defeated at York, 49; 50. 
More, Sir Thomas, beheaded, 138. 
Mortimer, Roger, Earl of March, 

95; "9- 
Mortimer, Edmund, E. of March, 

108; ill. 
Moscow, burnt, 243. 
Mountjoy, Lord, 159. 
Murray, Earl of, Regent, 154. 

Najera (na-ha'rii), 100. 

Nantwich, vi, battle at, 176. 

Naples, 134, 147- 

Napoleon L, early career, 237; 
threatens to invade Eng., 238 ; 
emperor, 238-240; invades 
Russia, 243 ; at St. Helena, 

243- 

Napoleon III., in Eng., 251 ; em- 
peror, 252; joins England in 
Crimean War, 252. 

Naseby, /, vi, battle at, 178. 

Navarino (-e'no), nav. bat. at, 246. 

Navarre, iv, 132. 

Nelson, Lord, adm., at battle of 



Nile, 237; at West Indies, 
238 ; killed off Trafalgar, 239. 
Netherlands, trade with Eng., 129, 
I31; Chas. V. inherits, 134; 
Revolt of, 155; in Triple Al- 
liance, 194; 210; becomes 
Batavian Republic, 236; 247. 
New Amsterdam, becomes New 

York, 193. 
New England, settled, 164, 165 ; 

185. 
New Forest, vi, 64, 65. 
New Model, 177, 178. 
New Orleans, battle at, 243. 
New South Wales, convicts sent 

to, 258. 
New York, formerly New Amster- 
dam, 193 ; 252 ; 260. 
* New Zealand, 261, 262. 
Newark, /, 81, 178. 
Newbury, /, battle at, 176. 
Newcastle, i, vi, coal at, 98. 

" Duke of, 224; 228. 

Newfoundland, 214. 
Newton, Sir Isaac, 204. 
Newtown Butler, vi, bat. at, 208. 
Niagara, Fort, taken, 225. 
Nicholas I., Czar, in Crimean 

War, 252-254. 
Nightingale, Florence, 254. 
Nithisdale, Earl of, 219. 
Norfolk, Hi, vi, 20. 

" 2d Duke of. See Surrey, 

Earl of. 
" 3d Duke of, 142. 
" 4th Duke of. See Surrey, 
Earl of. 
Norham Castle, 89. 
Normandy, iv, Northmen in, t^\ 
invaded by Ethelred, 39, 40; 
under Duke Rolf, 40 ; Harold 
II. in, 47; under William I., 
58-62 ; under Robert, 62, 65 ; 
under Henry I., 66; lost by 



288 



INDEX. 



Nor. 



John, 78; Henry V. in, 112. 

Normans, expelled from Eng., 49; 
conquer Eng., 50; 59. 

North Allerton, vi, battle at, 67. 

North, Lord, Fred., E. of Guilford, 
prime minist., 230; his Amer- 
ican policy, 233 ; resigns, 234. 

Northmen. See Danes. 

Northumberland, vi, 37, 38 ; 133. 
" E. of, in rebel., 108, 109. 
" Duke of, treason of, 145 ; 
executed, 146. 

Northumbria, Hi, 20; 22; 31; 
under Athelstan, 35 ; revolt 
in, 37; divided, ^7. 

Norway, 26 ; 39 ; 49. 

Nottingham, i, Hi, vi, 95 ; Chas. I. 
at, 176. 

Nova Scotia, settled, 223. 

Oates, Titus, Popish Plot of, 195, 

196; tried, 200. 
O'Brien, Smith, 251. 
O'Connell, in Parliament, 246; 

251. 
Odo, Abp. of Canterbury, 37. 

" Bp. of Bayeux, plot of, 60, 61. 
Offa, King of Mercia, constructs 

dyke, 23 ; murders Ethelbert, 

23 ; 30- 

Olaf, King of Sweden, 42. 
Oldcastle, Sir John, executed, no. 
Oltenit'za, battle at, 253. 
Omar Pasha, 253. 
Opium trade in China, 261. 
Orange, William, Prince of. See 

Great Britain, Sovereigns of. 
Orkneys, i, 38; 49; 89; Spanish 

Armada at, 158. 
Orleans, iv, besieg. by Eng., 1 14; 

relieved by Joan of Arc, 115. 
Orleans, Dukes of, prisoner, 112; 

Regent of France, 219; Louis 

Philippe, 247. 



Ormond, Marquis of, quits Ireland, 

183. 
Oro'sius, 30. 
Oude, v, 235 ; 257. 
Oxford, i-iii, vi, meeting at, 85 ; 

martyrs at, 148; loyal to Chas. 

I., 175; 178; parliam'tat, 196. 
Oxford, Univ. of, founded, 54; 

under Henry HI., 86, 87; 

John Wicliffe at, 106 ; Christ 

Church founded, 134: 262. 

Palestine, 64; Richard I. in, 76. 
Palmerston, Lord, minister, 247; 

premier, 254. 
Pandolf, papal legate, 79. 
Paris, iv, 90; 95; Edw. III. near, 

97; Henry V. in, 112; Henry 

VI. crowned at, 114; French 

recover, 115; Treaty of, 228; 

243 ; Exposition at, 252 ; Peace 

of, 255. 
Parliament, rise of English, 79, 

85, 91, 166, 171, 189; Long, 

173-186; of Gt. Britain, 214; 

of United Kingdom, 237; 

272-274. 
Parr, Catherine, queen of Henry 

VIII, 142. 
Paskievitch, Prince, 253. 
Pauli'nus, Abp. of York, 23. 
Pavia, Francis captured at, 135. 
Pedro the Cruel, K. of Castile, 100. 
Peel, Sir Robert, in cabinet, 246 ; 

premier, 248. 
Pembroke, Earls of, Strongbow, 

72 ; Protector of Henry III, 

83- 
Penn, William, 205. 
Pennsylvania, founded, 205, 206. 
Percy, Henry. See A r ort/mw6er- 

land, Duke of. 
Perth, i, 218. 
Peterborough, i, Hi, 54. 



Rus. 



INDEX. 



Philip II. of France, 76-79. 

" IV. " 90, 91 ; 96. 

" VI. " 96-98. 

" II. of Spain, marries Mary, 

146, 147 ; leaves Eng., 148, 

149; succeeds Chas. V., 149; 

152; severity in Holland, 155; 

sends Armada, 157; intrigues 

in Ireland, 158. 
Philip, Duke of Anjou, 210. 
Philippa of Hainault, Queen of 

Edward III., 98. 
Philippine Islands, 228. 
Phoenicians, visit England, 10, II. 
Piers the Plowman. See Langland. 
Pinkie, battle at, 144. 
Pitt, William, Earl of Chatham, 
224-227; 230; 233. 
(son), 235-239; 254. 
Pittsburgh, 225. 
Plantagenets, origin of, 66. See 

England, Sovereigns of. 
Plautius, Aulus, in England, 12. 
Plombieres, 218. 
Poitiers, iv, battle at, 98. 
Poitou (pwii-too')* iv, 78. 
Pole, Cardinal, papal legate, 147; 

Abp. of Canterbury, 148. 
Pomfret, 139. 

Pope, Alexander, poet, 215. 
Portland, vi, naval battle off, 186. 
Porto Bello, captured, 221. 
Portugal, French in, 240; pro- 
tected by England, 246. 
Prague, 106; 165. 
Preston, i, vi, battle at, 179. 
Prestonpans, vi, battle of, 222. 
Pride, Col., purges House, 180. 
Prussia, in Seven Years War, 223 ; 

in Holy Alliance, 244; 252. 
Punjab, v, 256. 

Quebec, captured by Gem Wolfe, 
225. 
Eng.— 19. 



Raglan, Lord, in Crimea, 254. 
Raleigh, Sir Walter, 160-163. 
Ram / illies, battle at, 213. 
Ravenspur, i, 104. 
Reading, i, Hi, vi, captured, 176. 
Redan, fort, 254. 
Regency, The, 241-245. 
Restoration, The, 189-191. 
Rheims, iv, 1 15; 155. 
Rhine, vi, 194. 
Rhuddlan Castle, ii, 88. 
Richard, Earl of Cornwall, 84, 85. 
I., II., III. See Eng- 
land, Sovereigns of. 
Ridley, Bishop, burnt, 148. 
Rizzio, murdered, 154. 
Robert of Normandy, in rebellion, 

60-66. 
Rochelle', iv, 170. 
Rochester, ii, vi, 72; taken, 81. 
Rodney, Adm., defeats French, 

2 33- 

Rohillas, conquest of, 235. 

Rolf, the Dane, Duke of Nor- 
mandy, 40. 

Romans, 11-18. 

Rome, 12; English slaves in, 22; 
Athelstan and Alfred in, 27 ; 
Knut in, 43; 136; Stuarts at, 
219 ; French in, 237. 

Rooke, Adm., takes Gibraltar, 
213. 

Rossbach, battle at, 224. 

Rouen (roo-oN'), i, iv, vi, 40; 49; 
captured, 112. 

Roxburgh, i, 76 ; 90. 

Runnimede, i, 79. 

Rupert, Prince, in Civil War, 
175-178; 185. 

Russell, Lord Wm, 197. 

" Lord John, in Cabinet, 247. 

Russia, trade with England, 157; 
opposes Napoleon I., 238, 
239; makes peace, 240; in- 



290 



INDEX. 



Ru-. 



vasion of, 243 ; joins Holy 
Alliance, 244; 246; in Cri- 
mean War, 252-255. 
Ryswick, Peace of, 210. 

Saladin, Sultan, 76. 

iSalem, Mass., 230. 
/Salisbury, Marquis, Prime Min- 
ister, 267; 269. 

Santa Cruz, victory at, 188. 

Savannah, first ocean steamer, 
261. 

Savoy, Duchess of, 212. 
" Duke of, 219. 

Saxons, invade England, 16; 20; 
23; government of, 31; con- 
quered, 59. 

Scarborough, i-tu, vi, burnt, 49. 

Schomberg, Marshal, in Ire., 208. 

Scinde, v, annexed to British In- 
dia, 256. 

Scone, i, 90 ; Bruce crowned at, 
92 ; 96 ; Charles II. crowned 
at, 184. 

Scotland, i, ii, Hi, name of, 17; 
Irish monks in, 20; Edward 
I. over-lord of, 31 ; acquires 
Strathclyde, 36 ; gains Lo- 
thian, 38 ; Siward invades, 
46; Saxons in, 59; 60; sub- 
mits to Henry II., 73 ; Ed- 
ward I. in, 89, 90, 92 ; under 
Wm. Wallace, 91, 92; gains 
independence, 94, 95 ; Edw. 
III., 95, 96 ; under Robert 
III., 109; Mary, infant Queen 
of, 141 ; Somerset in, 143, 
144; Reformation in, 152, 
153; Mary returns to, 153, 
resigns, 154 ; James VI., 154, 
162 ; Monk in, 185; Drunken 
Parliament, 192; persecution 
in, 198; proclaims Wm. and 
Mary, 207 ; united to Eng- 
land, 213; Pretender in, 218; 



Young Pretender in, 222 ; rep- 
resentation, 263 ; troubles in, 
270. 

Scots, crossed from Ireland, 17 ; 
defeated by Britons, 18; at 
Brunanburgh, 35, 36; 54; 
defeated by Henry II., 73; 
submit to Edward I., 89; at 
Bannockburn, 95; 108; Cov- 
enanters, 172, 173; allied 
with Parliament, 176; sur- 
render Chas. I., 178; defeated 
by Cromwell, 179; protest 
against trial of Chas. I., 181 ; 
proclaim Chas. II., 183; hold 
out for James II., 207; at 
Glencoe, 208. 

Scrope, Abp., rebels, 109. 

Sedgemoor, i, battle of, 201. 

Senlac, Hi, battle at, 50. 

Sepoys, 226 ; rebel, 256. 

Sevastopol, siege of, 253, 254. 

Severn River, i-iii, vi, 23. 

Severus, Emperor, 14. 

Seymour, Jane, Queen of Henry 
VIII., 140. 

Seymour, Lord Thos., exec, 144. 

Shaftesbury, Earl of, 196. 

Shakespeare, Wm., poet, 160. 

Sharp, Abp., murdered, 198. 

Sheerness, vi, captured, 193. 

Shoreham, vi, 185. 

Shrewsbury, i, Hi, vi, battle, 109 

Sicily, 76; 84. 

Sidney, Algernon, beheaded, 197. 

Sikhs, conquest of, 256. 

Sile / sia, Fred. Great in, 221. 

Silistria, siege of, 253. 

Silures, 12. 

Simnel, imposter, 129. 

Simon, priest, 129. 

Siward, invades Scotland, 46. 

Smith John, at Jamestown, 164. 
" Sir Sidney, at Acre, 237. 



Tud. 



INDEX. 



291 



Solway Firth, i-iii, vi, 14. 

" Moss, i, vi, battle at, 141. 

Somerset, iv, Alfred in, 28. 

Somerset, Duke of, killed at St. 
Abans, 1 18. 

Somerset, Duke of, Edward Sey- 
mour, Protector, 143 ; at Pin- 
kie, beheaded, 144. 

Somme River, vi, 97. 

Sophia, Electress, 206; 212-215. 

Southampton, iv, vi, 157. 

Spain, 26 ; Black Prince in, 100 ; 
John of Gaunt in, 103 ; under 
Chas. V., 134-136; 194; suc- 
cession in, 210, 214; war with, 
227, 228; Wellington in, 240; 
246. 

Speke, Capt. John, explorer, 261. 

Spenser, Edmund, poet, 160. 

St. Albans, i, iii, vi, burnt, 1 1 ; 
14; battle at, 118. 

St. Christopher, acquired, 214. 

St. Lawrence, R., 224; 228. 

St. Vincent C, battle off, 237. 

Stafford, Lord, Wm. Howard, ex- 
ecuted, 196, 197. 

Stamford Bridge, i, battle at, 49. 

Steele, Richard, 215. 

Stephen, King of Hungary, 42. 

Stigand Abp. 50. 

Stirling, bat. near, 92; 154; 222. 

Stoke upon Trent, vi, bat. at, 129. 

Stonehenge, ii, 12. 

Strafford, Earl of, Thomas Went- 
worth, serves Charles I., 171; 
impeached, 173. 

Strathclyde, ii, Hi, 19; 31; 36. 

Strongbow. See Clare, Richard de. 

Stuart, Arabella, 162. 

Stuart, James Francis Edward, the 
Pretender, born, 202 ; pro- 
claimed James III. by Louis 
XIV., 210; invades Scotland, 
218, 219. 



Stuart, Chas. Edward, the Young 
Pretender, invades Scotland, 
222 ; defeated at Culloden 
Moor, 223. 

Suetonius, in Britain, 13, 14. 

Suffolk, iii, vi, 20; 95; 145. 

Surat, v, 164. 

Surrey, Earl of, defeats Scots, 133. 
" " (grandson), 142. 

Sussex, ii, iii, vi, 20 ; 24 ; 27. 

Sweden, in Triple Alliance, 194; 
219; 238. 

Sweyn I., King of Denmark, in 
England, 40. 

Sweyn II., K. of Denmark, 43 ; 58. 

Sydney Cove, 258. 

Syria, Napoleon in, 237. 

Tagus, R., 185. 

Tangiers', 195. 

Tees, R., i-iii, vi, 37; 38; 58. 

Temple, Sir William, negotiates 
Triple Alliance, 194. 

Terouenne', iv, 132. 

Tewkesbury, i, iii, battle at, 121. 

Thames, R., i-iii, vi, 11; North- 
men in, 39; 43; 45; Dutch 
in, 193; 203. 

Thanet, isle of, ii, 18. 

Theodo'sius, in Britain, 18. 

Ticondero'ga, captured, 225. 

Tobago, 234. 

Tonstall, Bishop, 146. 

Tor Bay, vi, Wm. lands at, 202. 

Tostig, brother of Harold, 48, 49. 

Touraine, iv, 78, 99. 

Tournay', iv, 129; 132; 133. 

Towton, vi, battle at, 120. 

Trafalgar', battle at, 239. 

Trent, affair of, 260. 

Trieste', 239. 

Troyes, iv, Treaty of, 112. 

Tudor, Owen, 113; 119. See 
England, Sovereign* of. 



292 



INDEX. 



Tur. 



Turkey, Turks, conquer Palestine, 
64; 237; war with Greeks, 246; 
in Crimean War, 252-255; 
with Russia, 265, 266. 

Tweed, i—iu, vi, 38 ; 89. 

Tyburn, 95; 130; 191. 

Tyler, Wat, Rebellion of, 102. 

Tyne, R., z, ///, vi, 14. 

Tyrone's Rebellion, 158, 159; 164. 

Ulster, rebellion in, 173. 

United Kingdom, 237. 

United States, independent, 233 ; 
234; in War of 1812, 242, 
243 ; Civil War in, 264, 265. 

Utrecht, Treaty of, 214. 

Van Tromp, Dutch admiral, 186. 

Vaudois, persecution of, 188. 

Versailles, Treaty of, 234. 

Vespasian, in England, 12. 

Vezelay, iv, crusaders meet at, 76. 

Victoria. See Great Britain, Sov- 
ereigns of. 

Vienna, Richard I. at, 77 ; Expo- 
sition at, 252. 

Villiers, George. See Buckingham, 
Duke of. 

Virginia, 164; 233. 

Vortigern, British prince, 18. 

Wakefield, i, vi, battle at, 118. 

Wales and Welsh, i-iii, vi, Britons 
retreat to, 12; 19; Christians 
in, 23 ; defeated by Offa, 23 ; 
31 ; conspiracy of, 35 ; Edgar's 
victories over, 38 ; conquered 
by E. Harold, 47 ; 60 ; first 
Prince of, 88 ; 108 ; rebellion 
in, 108, 109. 

Wales, Prince of (Black Prince), 
at Crecy, 96, 97; in Castile, 
dies, 100. 

Wallace, Wm., 91 ; executed, 92. 



Wallachia, seized by Russia, 252; 
lost, 253. 

Walpole, Sir Robert, in Cabinet, 
220, 221. 

Walsingham, Sir Francis, in Cab- 
inet, 151, 160. 

Waltheof, 59, 60. 

Warbeck, Perkin, impostor, 129, 
I30. 

Warrenne / , Earl, defeated, 92. 

Warwick, Richard Neville, Earl 
of, Kingmaker, 117-121. 

Warwick, E. of (grandson), 129, 
130. 

Washington, Gen. Geo., in com- 
mand, 231, 232. 

Washington City, burnt, 243 ; 
Treaty of, 260. 

Waterford, ?', 158. 

Waterloo, battle at, 243. 

Watling Street, it, 29; 54. 

Wellington, Sir Arthur Wellesley, 
Duke of, in Spain, 240; at 
Waterloo, 243. 

Wentworth, Thos. See Strafford, 
Earl of. 

Wessex, ii, 20; 24; 2>7>- 

West Indies, 238 ; liberation of 
slaves in, 248. 

Western Isles, i, 31 ; 93. 

Westminister, 23 ; founded, 48 ; 
Wm. I. crowned in, 57 ; Hen- 
ry I. crowned in, 65 ; Henry 
IV. dies in, no; 122; Hen- 
VII. buried in, 131; Anne 
crowned in, 213. 

Wexford, i, 158; stormed, 183. 

Weymouth, i, vi, 121. 

Whitby, ii, Hi, vi, abbey at, 52, 53. 

Whitehall, 134; 181. 

Wicliffe, John, influence of, 106- 
107. 

Wight, Isle of, i-iv, vi, 12 ; 45 ; 179. 

Wilberforce, William, 248. 



Yor. 



INDEX. 



29; 



William I., II., III., IV. See 

England and Great Britain, 
Sovereigns of. 

Wilkes, John, trial of, 228, 229. 

Windsor, /, vi, 48. 

Winchester, it, Hi, vi, capital of 
Wessex, 33; 50; 58; treasury 
at, 65; Bp. of, S3; Wolsey 
Bp. of, 133 ; Philip and Mary 
married at, 147. 

Winchester, Henry of. See Eng- 
land, Sovereigns of, Hen. IV. 

Wit'an, 31; 33; 42; 45; 46. 

Woden, 20; 29; 40; 65. 

Wolfe, Gen., captures Quebec, 
225. 

Wolsey, Thomas, Cardinal, in 
power, 133 ; his splendor, 134; 
fall of, 136, 137. 



Worcester (woos / ter), i-iii, vi, 

battle at, 184. 
Wren, Sir Christopher, 204. 
Wyatt, Sir Thomas, rebels, 147. 
Wye, River, ii, Hi, vi, 23. 

York, i-iii, vi, Roman capital of 
Britain, 15; archbishopric, 
23 ; Witan at, 33 ; battle near, 
49 ; first English library at, 
53; besieged, 58; Jews at, 
75; 118; Charles I. in, 173; 
besieged, 176. 

York, James, Duke of. See Great 
Britain, Sov. of, James II. 

York, Richard, Duke of, 117; 
killed, 118. 

Yorkshire, vi, 38. 

Yorktown, surrendered, 233. 



Books for Supplementary Reading 



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Treat's Home Studies in Nature. Illustrated 

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Monteith's Popular Science Reader 

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Carpenter's Geographical Reader — Asia .... 
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Payne's Geographical Nature Studies 

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Guyot's Geographical Reader and Primer 

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Johonnot's Geographical Reader 

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Van Bergen's Story of Japan 

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Holbrook's 'Round the Year in Myth and Song 

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